


A Different Perspective

by DrastDeathclaw



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: F/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-06
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2018-08-19 19:51:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8222876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrastDeathclaw/pseuds/DrastDeathclaw
Summary: last chapter of D's time in the west. Next story she'll be in the eastern states





	1. Chapter 1

"Well I can't very well shoot it in the dark if I can't tell what it is, it could be a person for all I know!" Jones was complaining while Sam was pestering him to shoot the small figure they saw moving on the hillside 200 yards from the town wall. In the mountain night air a chill was setting in while the light from the stars and irradiated plant across the massive valley filled the air. "How could it be a human? Its crawling on all fours and seems to be pretty clumsy on that gentle slope, in my opinion its gotta be a Feral Ghoul, there's still a bunch stuck in the power plant so it probably came from there." "If it was a ghoul from the plant it'd be bright as a light bulb because it a pool of radiation you dumbass. Remember the one that bit Ahote, it was practically glow in the dark." His hand moved to the scope zooming in the rifle, hand tightening around the grip. "I think it might be a Gecko, it's short enough and I think I see a tail. Whats weird is I've never seen a Gecko's eyes glow." Sam stuffed candy into his mouth while speaking " Well it could be an unusual variant, remember that Nightstalker with the blue fur?" "No I don't because I was drunk off Ult's moonshine, now shut up so I can aim." Aiming just above the target to account for the bullet drop he fired. A second later he saw sparks and the figure dropped." Hit! Let's go check it out. Jones was the first one there, crossing over the gentle hills faster then his fatter friend. When Sam caught up Jones looked horrified, the same feeling hitting him when he saw their target. "Oh my god, it's a little girl!" Looking down they saw a small body with pale skin, blood pouring from a cut on her head. Jones looked at the shattered rock feet in front of her putting together what happened. "I hit the rock and the ricochet hit her in the head, dear god i hope I didn't kill her." Sam pulled the filthy gown she wear back on her shoulder. He quickly pulled back wiping his hands. Jones, you really need to see this. Jones came over, setting the rifle in the grass beside the girl before pulling back the gown. Her shoulders were covered in long precise scars, indicating surgical instruments were used on her, but what was disturbing was that her back along with parts of her shoulders were covered in dark blue scales with bony knobs mixed in. "What happened to her, is this some kind of mutation?" Sam was freaking out, stuffing candy in his face from his pocket. "I don't know but these scars mean someones been cutting her open repeatedly. Lets get her to the doc, she can tell us what's going on.

In the town of Whitefield in a open end valley, what was once Raton. Doctor Lisa Stern walked into her office early in the morning to find both Jones and Sam, the town fools walking about her office while a little girl was unconscious on her table. " What the hell are you guys doing here and what are you doing with her?" As they started talking loudly at the same time she quickly grew annoyed kicking them out. Tying her brownish blond hair back before putting on her gloves, she stripped from her pajamas to work clothes, pale skin white in the surgical light. "Alright my young friend lets see what injuries you have. Her findings showed some malnutrition and dehydration along with scrapes and cuts consistent with the rough terrain. She was disturbed by the scarring around her shoulders and legs, evident of tissue samples being excised out, and even more disturbed by the scales on the patients body. The whole back and the dorsal neck skin, the arms above the elbows, and the sides of the thighs reaching down to the knee had small hard blue scales and bony knobs growing. A stump above the buttocks indicated the growth of a tail and approximate size and weight showed that the girl was at least 5 years old. Lisa took some blood samples to run a DNA test to match it up with anyone she had on record . She did have to admit being next to the ruins of one of the best hospitals in the region did have its perks. Inserting a needle to feed nutrients and liquid into the girls arms, she walked outside where the town fools waited. "Where did you find her and what the hell happened?" At once they hastily explained what had happened, a few minutes later and she smacked both of them on the cheek. "You idiots! How many times have me and the sheriff told you to check your target, your lucky the ricochet only grazed her head. I won't know if it just knocked her out or if she has permanent brain trauma from the blow." They both ran down the hill to flee her anger as Sheriff Kannon came up. "I heard you've got a mystery patient, any clues on who it is?" Lisa gladly accepted the cup of homegrown coffee he offered her. "Not yet, I'm running her DNA through the machine. Something very wrong happened to her Sheriff. She has surgical scars all over like someone cut her open repeatedly, whats even scarier is that I think someone messed with her DNA. It's the only way to explain at the malformations on her body." As she finished speaking a buzzer echoed from inside indicating the scanner had found a result. "Lets go check it out." Heading inside Lisa checked the results while Kannon checked out the patient. " How is this possible? The machine must have gotten the test wrong." "What is it?" Lisa took the test over to him, pointing out genetic indicators along the result. "This is the girls DNA strand, it shares a large number of genetic markers with the strand above it, it also has signs of being genetically tampered with which means that while this person was still a embryo someone inserted desired gene sequences into her genetic code." Kannon eyeballed her having no idea what she said." Okay so someone messed with her DNA what else is the problem?" Lisa pointed to the two genetic sequences above the girls." Beside the genetic modifications this girl shares genetic markers with two people here." When he saw his name on the second genetic strand his eyes bulged, but when he looked at the bottom strand he was even more shocked." How the hell does this girl have my DNA...and yours?" Lisa shook her head, confused as he was." I don't know, but I do know that this girl has been through something terrible.

It had gone from early morning to late evening, Lisa was coming back from the general store with groceries when she heard crashing inside her clinic. Putting the bags down she rushed inside tot find the little girl going through all her cabinets. The door slammed shut behind her, drawing the girls attention. Her head whipped around, eyes wide when she saw Lisa, then she dashed faster then a little girl should have been able to. Crawling into a cabinet she made herself as small as possible when Lisa reached in after her. She pulled her bleeding hand back quickly. The little girl hissed and growled, snapping at her every time she reached in. Not knowing what to do about her Lisa went out an grabbed her groceries, putting them away. Sitting at her desk in her living room she barely noticed the small body moving at the room entryway. On her terminal she was looking at all her records of when she donated blood or had been injured but nothing came up that could have resulted in her DNA being taken. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the little girl standing off to her left by the wall. "It's okay, don't be scared." It didn't seem to reassure her as she took a step back. Slowly taking a piece of sweet bread from the plate on her desk she offered it to the girl. It took a long while but the child slowly crept forward. Taking the bread from her hands the girl wolfed it down. Lisa picked her up and sat her on her lap. " Alright let's see what we have here?" Aside from the scars and scales there was just a little dirt on her.Checking the filthy hospital gown she wore she found a tag on the bottom edge. "S109D7" She didn't know what it meant. The child clutched her arms tightly as if afraid to leave her grasp now. Kannon came in, heavy boots thudding on the wood floor. "Well looks like she's taken a liking to you. Find anything out about our little monster." The girl clutched Lisa even tighter, refusing to come loose when Kannon tried to pick her up. " Well I haven't found anything else on her genetic markers but I did find this tag on the gown. Stop trying to pry her away, shes digging her nails in." Kannon checked out the tag looking stumped. "If I didn't know better I'd say this was a serial number, but it should be a few digits longer." " Well do whatever you need to do with it, I'm going to give her a bath then put her to bed. It's not healthy for a child this young to be up late." It took her two hours to come back down from upstairs to sit on the couch. The sheriff still sitting at the desk as he sorted through files. " You know, in all your 25 years have you ever considered having children Lisa? You looked so natural with her in your arms. She even has your hair." Lisa looked at the bruises on her arms. When she had set the child on her bed after a bath she had refused to let go until she'd fallen asleep. " I've though I'd have kids one day but I sure as hell didn't expect it to happen now. I'm still stumped on how someone got my DNA, I'm not too surprised they got yours since I've stitched you back together a dozen times this year alone." It was midnight, Lisa sleeping on her couch when the little girl came out and joined her. On the couch they looked adorable, Kannon turning out all the lights before he softly closed the door behind him.

The following morning Lisa had to go to the town hall to explain the little girl to the town. Jones and Sam couldn't keep their mouths shut about her patient. Taking up the podium on the stand she began to explain that the mutations the girl had were due to genetic modification. When they had come in many of the people had expected to hear that she was a mutant but when they heard that someone had experimented on a child they were hungry for blood. But then the big question came up on what to do with the child. in a nearly unanimous vote the town voted that the child stay with Lisa. Exhausted from the long explanation she unlocked her door, nearly tumbling to the ground when the girl jumped on top of her. From her shrill cries it was evident she was happy that Lisa was back. "Well aren't you lively today. Are you hungry?" She shook her head, pulling on Lisa's arm to the kitchen. "Alright then let's make you some breakfast." Making scrambled eggs with toast she served them both. As she sat down to eat Lisa brought up the good news. "So early this morning while you were asleep the town met to discuss, well, what to do with you." A sad look came over the girls face. Lisa forgot got that she wasn't talking to an adult but a little girl even though said little girl was obviously very intelligent for her age. " The town has voted to keep you here, and I am to be your caretaker." Dropping her food she walked over to Lisa, hugging her. "Your gonna have to learn table manners but first you need a name. I can't keep calling you girl. How about Dialia. I like Dialia, its the name of a hero from my favorite books." At the sound of her new name Dialia started crying. "Hey hey hey, there's no need to cry, it's okay." Dialia hugged Lisa tight. In a low tone she spoke"Thank you mommy." Lisa was shocked but she didn't want it to show. "Well how about that. You aren't completely silent."


	2. Bully

Lisa opened the old wood door, entering a room with shelves covered in books. Against the north wall was a bed with thick white blankets. Under the sheets Dialia slept with a book still in hand. "Come on, time to get up. We have to shovel snow off the sidewalk, clean the clinic, and cook breakfast. The sun was barely coming up at seven in the morning when Dialia started shoveling snow, tossing it to the side of the path on top of frozen grass. Grandpa Sampson, the general store owner came walking up the path carrying his chessboard. "Good morning Dialia. Are you ready for our daily game." Nodding she set her shovel down, tightening her coat as she followed him inside. While Lisa was setting up the clinic for the day, Sampson set up his chess set in the kitchen while Dialia started cooking pancakes. "Hey D, can you bring me the heat pads. We're bound to have some frostbite cases from the river workers." While the pancakes heated up Dialia took the pads into the clinic where Lisa was setting up some defrosting solutions. "Thank you. Check the stimpack supply, I don't want to be short then we can eat." After checking the storage room, Dialia walked into the kitchen to find Lisa, Sampson, Kannon, and Jones and Sam all in the kitchen with a large cake on the table. "Happy birthday Dialia. It took a while but with some testing I figured out when your birthday is, November 19th." Her bewildered face brought smiles to their faces as they begun to sing. "Happy 7th birthday Dialia. Maybe my gift to you will be I let you win a game for once." Sampson was chuckling. Kannon had a paper wrapped object he was about to hand to her when Lisa took it. "Kannon she is not old enough for this kind of thing. Wait a few years before giving her one." While she and Kannon had a small argument Sam and Jones gave her some wild flowers they had picked along with a deer hide coat. Sampson gave her a wild west adventure book she hadn't read before and lastly her mom gave her a textbook full of academic subjects. "Your gonna have to start going to school and I'm going to teach you myself. "Well at least your passing on that expensive education along. I didn't pay a few thousand caps for nothing." Sampson was chuckling heavily again as Dialia looked through the book. "Thank you everyone." Dialia gave grandpa Sampson a hug, shook everyone's hands as they left to work. Kannon slipped her the paper package as he was leaving "Meet me behind your grandpa's store after lunch." As he left Lisa asked for the package. "Sorry dear, but your not old enough for this. I'll let grandpa hang onto it for you." She did unwrap it, revealing a blue piece of steel with dark oak strips on the grips." Take that to your grandfather along with his lunch when it hits noon. Come on, I'm gonna teach you math." Picking up the book with Dialia behind, they went into the clinic.

Dialia was walking up the hill to grandpa's store when something hit her in the side of the head. The bag she held spilled, dropping the sandwiches and pistol that were inside. Another object hit her back as she fell. " Get out of here mutant. No one wants your kind here." A group of children were throwing rocks at her, staying fifteen feet away. She felt something warm flowing down her face, blood dripping to the ground. One boy ran forward, picking up the pistol and food, before running off. The children started moving in closer, looking ready to beat her when someone started shouting. They ran off as Sam and Jones came up. On seeing the blood coming off her head Jones picked her up, running up the hill with her. A minute later they were at the general store, a feral look in her eyes. She was about to go berserk when grandpa Sampson picked her up, calming her down with soothing words. When she had calmed down he bandaged her head as he cursed. "Those little bastards. They'll be lucky if I even sell garbage to their families after this. If they want to fuck with the family that keeps this town running then we'll just leave. I'd like to see how they feel when they have no doctor." Lisa came running in, checking her daughters head and body for injuries. "What happened." "I'll tell you what happened. Mary Coulidge happened. Her and her little gang of bastards decided to attack Dialia. I'm never selling them candy or anything again." While he was shouting and Lisa examining her daughter, Lucas walked in, angrily holding his sons arm with a 45 ACP in his hand. "I'm so pissed with you Leon. You'll be lucky if you get to leave the house when you 30. Your going to apologize even if I have to beat it out of you." He handed Sampson the pistol, the same one that Kannon had given Dialia. "Lisa I am so sorry about Leon. I'll make sure he learns not to do this again." The boy refused to look at Dialia. "But dad, why do I have to apologize to a mutant?" Lucas went off, shouting at his son. "Lucas just leave before I beat the kid myself." Sampson looked furious. Lucas took his son outside, still shouting. Lisa picked up some candy, giving it to Dialia to suck on. "Mom, whats a mutant?" Lisa looked at her before grabbing her hand. "Grandpa can tell you back at the clinic. I'm going to make sure you don't have a concussion.

"Two centuries ago when the great war ended with nuclear fire, the country was bathed with radiation mutating almost all it touched. The state we live in was mostly untouched because only the largest city was hit with a nuclear missile. The mountains on the Colorado border protected us from any radiation from the north while there's no cities for hundreds of miles to the south. So the animals in the valley are mostly untouched while our sister town to the north through the pass is fairly clean as well. we do get the occasional feral ghouls from the nearby power plant but we're rather clean here." Sampson was telling her the story of the town, Dialia listening intently. Lisa was busy cooking dinner, the radio playing soft country in the background. "Grandpa, why do the other kids not like me." Sampson scratched his head, with no answer in mind. "Well...that's because your different. Some people don't like things that are different and that kind of thing has caused alot of pain throughout history." Lisa came to the table, setting the plates down. "Honey, You've been here for over a year now and yes your different but that's a good thing. You'll be stronger and faster then those other kids who don't know hard work. If you study hard and stay focused you'll be smarter then them too. You'll be better then them." Dialia dug into her food, stuffing baked chicken into her mouth while Sampson and her mother talked about what to do about the bullies. "It's that Mary that's causing all the trouble. Just because she's the mayors daughter she thinks she can do whatever she wants. Her parents can forget the discount I give them. I'm charging them double." "Dad that's not going to change anything. The other kids will just follow her example from now on. Come on D, its time to shower then bed." As Dialia got up to take her dishes to the sink grandpa pulled her. "After lunch meet me behind the store. I'm gonna teach you how to fight." He walked out the room, heading to his room on the upstairs floor. After taking a shower Dialia sat in bed reading a cowboy book by flashlight. Slowly her eyes got heavier and heavier until she fell asleep.

The next day she was putting the fresh beef cuts in the fridge when the front door jangled. Grandpa came up to the counter, a sour look on his face. "Either get her the hell out of here or all of you get the fuck out." From around a shelf Dialia looked, seeing the mayor, his wife and Mary at the door. "Come on Sam, don't be like that. We've known each other for 20 years. You use to sell me that homemade fruit candy you have in the jar." Mary left her mother's side, grabbing a bag of marbles off the shelf. "Put that the hell back. I'm not selling her shit after what she did to my granddaughter." He was red faced, steam practically coming out his ears. Dialia ran around the shelves get behind the counter where she could see him reaching for his shotgun. "Sam please calm down. It was just a spat between children. From what Mary told me your granddaughter started it when she called my Mary ugly." " UGLY! UGLY! DO YOU KNOW WHAT HER AND HER LITTLE POSSE DID TO DIALIA. THEY CALLED HER MUTANT. FUCKING MUTANT, ALL BECAUSE SOMETHING HAPPENED TO HER THAT WAS BEYOND HER CONTROL. THEY THREW ROCKS AND CUT OPEN HER HEAD. YOUR LUCKY I'M SELLING YOU GROCERIES." Dialia had to put her hand on her grandfathers to keep him from pulling his shotgun out. The veins in his forehead were pulsing, face red and angry. The mayor tore the marbles out of Mary's hands, pulling her close. "Sam just calm down. Your family and mine have been on this land since before the war. Hell, our grandfathers served together at Anchorage. So just calm down and we can talk this out. " He motioned outside, his daughter and wife leaving out the door. "First of all. You can tell her to stay the hell out of my store and away from my granddaughter." Dialia peeked around the counter while grandpa was shouting, catching the eye of the mayor. "Dalton, I've known you since you were a teen and you know family is the most important thing to me. But if this is how the town kids, the next generation, are going to treat my granddaughter then we'll just pack up and leave. That's the town doctor, the general store and all its supply gone straight up to Trinidad. Hell, last month Alv sent me a letter asking me to move up there." Grandpa motioned her out back, while they continued to talk. Outside sat Flipz the blue heeler. He immediately walked over to her to give her a big wet kiss. He was perhaps her only friend and she wouldn't trade him for the world. She was oblivious to the children coming up behind her.

Both Sampson and Dalton dashed outside when they heard the screaming to find Dialia and Mary rolling on the ground while Mary's friends each had a bloody nose. Dialia was getting Mary in a headlock by the time Dalton started seperating them. "THAT'S Enough. Get away from each other." Mary came out the worse for wear with a bloody lip and a black eye while Dialia only had a few scratches. "Daddy she attacked as as soon as she saw us, please make her leave. " Mary was trying to pin all the blame on her, Grandpa having to hold her back. "Go suck on a cactus you little rat. Everyone knows who started the fight." Dalton gathered all three girls, hurrying them down the street. "I saw the left hook you gave her. Needs work but wasn't half bad. I think they learned not to mess with you for a while. Lets get some hot cocoa and you can tell how it all happened." Flipz came when she whistled for him, all three heading inside as fresh snow started to fall.

"You want to do what?" Lisa was dumbstruck by the man now sitting in across from her in the office. He was offering her ten thousand caps to buy Dialia from her. "I simply want to compensate you for taking care of our property. Due to an oversight, one of our specimens escaped and we just recently leaned that it came here." Every motherly instinct she'd developed over the time she'd had Dialia was screaming for her to beat him. "Specimen? That is my daughter you're talking about. I may not have given birth to her but she has my blood. I raised her for the last year, I taught her how to read and write. She made me a plush lizard with my fathers help for my last birthday, hell she even tried to cook me breakfast in bed while I had the flu. There is no way in hell I am selling my daughter. I don't know how you made her, or what you want to do with her but you can get the FUCK out now before I call for Kannon. I'm sure he'll be real glad to meet you, so glad that he might give you a slow death. He learned a few things fighting raiders for the NCR." The man, a elderly person with pale skin and graying brown hair sighed deeply, getting up to head to the door. " I must warn you, the other specimens who were given the same gene manipulation as her all became intensely aggressive at this age. To the point where we had to put them down. I will leave you her file, one doctor to another, because I don't want more blood on my hands. One day she will become a rabid killing machine and then you'll have to put her down. I can save you that pain now." He ducked as she threw a vase that hit the wall above him. He hurriedly walked out the door, walking down the road to the town gate. She talked to one of the town guards who was walking past, asking for Kannon. Ten minutes later he appears, following her inside as she hurriedly explained what just happened. "Are you telling me he was one of the people who made D? Who experimented on her? I'm gonna go find the son of a bitch." She led him to the table where the file sat open. "That's not the worse of it look at the file he left. Look at what they spliced into her DNA." Kannon checked the file, eyes going wide as plates. " Due to the DNA inserted while in embyonic stages, subject has developed hard scales that are both resistant to small arms fire yet flexible enough to allow free movement. Behavior is hostile, likely because of same DNA. Specimen exhibits good low light vision as well as sense of smell." "What the fuck is this, their labeling her as some animal." He turned a few pages, all blank until the two newest ones. "Escaped subject S109D7 was spotted by one of our genetic material collectors today in the town of Whitefield. She is apparently living with the women from whose egg she was grown from. Possibly an instinct to seek her biological mother led her here. He recognized her from a list of lost specimens. A retrieval is recommended due to the threat of the subject going berserk from changed DNA." Lisa flipped to the last page. "Personal observations: Subject S109D7 shows none of the hostility of the other subjects of the same test group. The biological mother has given her the name Dialia. Subject shows higher intelligence then other subjects, interacts well with most residents of the town and shows great care for the dog that follows her around most of the time. Having a nurturing relationship appears to help control the high aggression that comes with the gene changes." Kannon looked pissed. Ready to blow his top. "That bastard was watching her, observing her like some lab rat. If he comes in town again I'll kill him." The door opening signified Dialia and Sampson walking in. "Don't tell my grandpa, it'll probably make his heart explode. 

That evening as the four of them were eating dinner Dialia was talking about the fight she had earlier. "You should have seen it. D's got a good left hook, gave Mary a black eye and knocked out a tooth. She could be a professional fighter, has the punch for it.' Kannon was chuckling the whole time. "I wish I was there to see it. Every time he goes out of town I have to follow her around to protect her. Treats me like her manservant." Lisa swallowed then spoke. "Well it's not good if she starts to fight all the time. Tomorrow she's staying home with me so I can help her education. Come on honey time for bed." Lisa took Dialia upstairs, leaving the two men downstairs. "So Sampson, Me and some of the boys took something off a weapons smuggler yesterday that I think will fit D just fine when she's older. I'll tell you about it after I get the whiskey." Sam got up heading to the john while Kannon got the liquor. On his way back he passe by the clinic office, seeing a folder on the desk. Out of curiosity he looked, seeing the marking S109D7. Skipping pages he found a page that was labeled with a heard he hadn't heard in a long time. Deathclaw.


	3. The Iron Horse

Lisa was coming down the stairs when the yelling started. "What the hell is this? What the hell is this. Where the fuck did it come from." She came into the office to find Kannon and her father arguing, the file in her dad's hand."Lisa where the hell did this come from. You know what it says? They used the worse fucking monster they could find and injected it's blood into Dialia." Lisa had no idea what he was talking about. "Sampson just calm down and we'll explain. What's this about a monster." Lisa pulled her father to a chair, the vessels on his face bulging. "They injected deathclaw genes into her. That's why her skin is scaly. Wouldn't be surprised if it was bulletproof. Next she'll grow horns and start eating raw meat." Lisa couldn't stand that talk, slapping her father. "Dad, Dialia is not going to turn into a monster. She will not grow horns, a third arm or eye and she sure as hell will not eat raw meat as long as she is my daughter Now calm down." Sampson sat in the chair, tossing the file on the table. "Deathclaw's are some of the worst, if not the worst monsters to encounter in the wasteland. Their extremely tough with skin that can stop smaller rounds, claws that can penetrate power armor, hell I've seen them kill yao guai then eat the damn thing without blinking. In front of me, I saw a man in power armor get peeled like a onion then they ate the juicy bits. It was a deathclaw that killed Mira." That hit a nerve. Lisa had never known how her mother had died till now. " Dad, why didn't you ever tell me." They were interrupted when Dialia came down the stairs, yawning mouth revealing long canines. " Why's everyone yelling? Did something happen?" Lisa looked at her father, pissed off. "It's alright honey. Just go back to sleep." She followed Dialia upstairs while Kannon looked Sampson in the eyes. "You woke the kid up."

She was in her grandfather's store when she heard the whistle. It sounded like one of the metal ones the teacher used at the school but deeper in tone. It echoed through the whole valley, a cry from the past in an uncertain future. " That crazy bastard. That glorious crazy son of a bitch actually did it." Her grandfather ran out of the shop, sprinting down the street. Dialia locked the door before following him. A plume smoke was flowing down from the mountain following the old railroad line. Catching up to him she grabbed his hand, holding tight. Slowly riding on the train tracks came a big black beast, smoke flowing from its tower while sparks flew from its feet. As it stopped at the old road crossing by the town gate it made a horrendous screeching sound. It was attached to 3 cars that held metal and wood and coal. From the head car a bald topped man with graying hair leaped down. "Sampson, you owe me a whole case of whiskey. It took a lot of work but I got her working. 300 years old and she's purring like she was made yesterday. I gotta say one thing bout 18th century engineers, they made shit to last." Oil and metal shavings covered his gray overalls, various tools in the pockets. "Roland, this is my granddaughter Dialia. Dialia this is Roland my old friend and that." He was pointing towards the steam engine "Is black Bertha." More people came by to look at the machine, jumping back when a mechanic released built up steam. "I'm just doing a test run, repairing any tracks that are damaged and mapping good spots for stations. I can get some of the posts to start building one here." As he spoke Roland shook her hand, grease sticking to it. " I think that'd be great. I never thought you'd get that thing running let alone traveling." Both of them laughed, hugging while she stood to the side. "In a year or so I can have a rail line running from Denver all the way to El Paso. That means good trade will be coming through." She had no idea what they were talking about but she was getting tired of being out of the loop. "Grandpa, what are we doing?" "Dialia we're going to do something no one's done in 200 years. We're going to ride in a steam engine." He picked her up, heading toward the engine with Roland behind. " Let me build the pressure then we can get moving. I'll let your grandkid blow the whistle when were ready to embark. We'll go a few miles south then we'll turn around and head back." Dialia moved out of Rolands way when he started shoveling coal. "All hands aboard!" 

Kannon and one of the town guards set a large wooden crate on the floor of Lisa's clinic while she was treating an infected cut on the water plant engineer. "Come take a look at this Lisa, what do you think of the town's new toys." Inside the crate were three 7.62 machine guns. But the thing that drew here attention was the gun that was in pieces in between all these guns. " There's 4 more of these back in the armory along with a few thousand rounds of ammo. The really cool thing besides these m1919's is the thing that's in pieces. The guy we took all these off of said he found it in a military testing facility in the south. Its a 50 cal machine gun that made to be carried by a soldier as a squad automatic weapon. its got a poly composite stock with recoil dampeners, a variable zoom scope with night vision and several firing modes. It has a couple different ammo types including incendiary trace and explosive filled. only problem is we don't have anyone who can use the damn thing without it mounted to something or power armor." He pulled one of the guns out, checking it out for damage. " Pretty sure no raiders are gonna try to screw with us after they see these. They'll be torn to bits." Lisa pulled him aside to the back room. "Listen Kannon, I want to thank you for being there when my father was angry. I also want to thank you for being like a father to Dialia. It may not have been by choice but she is your daughter. She has your genetic code, she has mine, she's our daughter. I may not have given birth to her but she's mine. I'm not giving her up to anyone." She was starting to talk faster and faster until he pulled her close. "Hey its alright. Nothings gonna happen. We're gonna take care of her alright. I won't let anything happen to you guys." He pulled her in, kissing her tight while putting something on her finger. Pulling back she looked down at her right hand. "A ring? Why'd you give me a ring?" He pulled her tight against him again. "Because I want us to be a real family, you, me and Dialia. I want to ask you to marry, and I'll make sure nothing happens to you guys."

"Whoooooooo wooooo." Dialia was pulling the cord to sound the whistle, enjoying the wind rush by her. "In another mile there's a loop we'll use to turn around. I had one of my men survey it and its in good condition. We'll have you guys home in an hour, just in time for lunch." Roland was manipulating lever and wheels, adjusting and slowing the train. She could feel the pull as the train slowed and turned in a large circle. Dialia was the first to notice the figures approaching. Grabbing her grandpa's hand she pointed in the figure's direction. He looked through binoculars, swearing at what he saw. "We got raiders on horseback coming in." Roland took the binoculars from grandpa Sampson "When was the last time you saw a raider riding a horse?" He was laughing hard. "I wouldn't call that riding, half of them are hanging on for their lives, the other half are about to jump off." Sampson took the binoculars back, handing them to Dialia. " Bastards must have tried riding a wild herd, didn't realize you can't just ride a horse, it needs to be broken. They watched the raiders disappear into the distance as the horses fought against them. "They could be a problem later if they follow the train. I'll have to let the town guards know when we get back." Sampson picked Dialia up, sitting her on the chair by the back rail. She watched as the green countryside flew by, elk, deer and antelope galloping away from the train. The birds flew overhead, hawks falling down on rabbits to snatch them up. All this let her realize something, She'd never left the town before, never known the world outside it and now that she saw it she wanted to see more. There were so many things she wanted to learn now, like how the birds flew, why the flowers looked and smiled beautiful. Her curious spark was ignited by these new sights. 

 

When the train stopped by the town Dialia jumped off, running up the hill to the clinic. She burst in the door to find Kannon and her mom kissing. Lisa looked her way, eyes going wide. " Dialia your home, did grandpa let you leave early today." Kannon's cheeks were flushed, looking embarrassed. "Mom, why was Kannon kissing you? Is this that special hug grandpa told me about?" Kannon went out the door, stuck between laughter and embarrassment. Lisa's gaze followed him out, a wide grin on her face. "No honey its not, and when did grandpa tell you this?" That was when Sampson came in with Roland, both laughing heavily. Sampson immediately went still when he caught Lisa's hard gaze. " Dad, please tell me about this special hug you told Dialia about. I'm sure its not what I think it is." Sampson immediately turned around while pulling Roland with him only for Lisa to grab his ear, dragging him to the storage room. "Dialia I need to have a talk with grandpa. There's sourdough in the oven that'll be ready in a bit, please take it out when the timer rings." Dialia understood all too well what was about to happen to grandpa, having suffered a few lectures herself. "jeez she's even scarier then her mother. I remember when Marianne use to pull on Sampson's ears when she was cross." Kannon came back in, picking Dialia up and setting her on his shoulders before going outside. "Hey big girl, i heard you got to ride the train. Was it fun?" "Mm hmm I got to blow the whistle and got to see a lot of elk and deer. There were raiders riding horses but they all fell off." "Sounds fun, wait what? Raiders were riding horses. Where did this happen." Dialia took his cowboy hat off, setting it on her head, the rim rubbing against something on her head causing an itch. "It happened at the loop where the train turned around." "Well that might be worrying a bit but I want to ask you something?" He set her on the floor, kneeling so they were eye to eye. "How would you feel if me and your mom got married so we were one big family?" She had no idea what to say to that. Kannon's look shifted from her eyes to her left cheek where she felt something warm. " That would be great! Then you could be my dad!" Kannon wiped something off her face with his shirt, staining the cloth red. "What the hell? Lisa!" She came out with Sampson behind, walking over. "Dilaias bleeding from her head. Looks like she had a blister that popped." Lisa searched through Dialia's hair until she found the source of the blood on the left side above her ear. A blister had indeed popped but when Lisa felt the spot there was something hard inside. She checked the other side of Dialia's head, feeling a blister above the right ear. " Get her to the table, I'll get my gloves. "Mom, are you really going to marry Kannon?" Lisa gave Kannon a hard gaze while she got her gloves on. " Yes. Yes I am. Now lets worry about you right now.

Lisa gave Dialia a light numbing injection around the blisters before draining the fluid. Slowly she cut away the swollen flesh to check the bump she felt. It was a projection of bone growing outward from her skull. It was growing at a forward angle while curving slightly." Well it's nothing serious just a bone growth that was pushing through the skin." She set a bandage on the blisters along with antiseptic. "Well alarms over. Dialia, I want to marry your mother. I've already proposed to her and everything. If you say no then it'll make me very sad." Dialia looked at her grandfather who winked before walking into the kitchen. "Its alright if you marry mom. It means that my dad will really be my dad." Lisa swiveled her head from Kannon back to Dialia. "I'm not dumb. He see's me everyday, he's been with us on all the holidays and I smell kinda like him. It's not hard to figure out he's my father." Kannon was surprised by the statement. "How did you know?" The timer went off, Lisa going to get the bread out. "You guys are not as quiet as you think. Also I have good hearing." Lisa came back in with sourdough sandwiches. Dialia taking a seat in between Kannon and her mother. " Well, this is gonna officially be our first dinner as a family. Dialia can you say the prayer's. Dialia clapped her hands together, taking a deep breath.

Sampson brought Dialia down to say good bye to Roland as he took the train back to Trinidad. "well take care of yourselves. I'll be down in a few weeks to oversee track repairs." He and Sampson hugged, Roland giving Dialia a pat on the head before jumping into the engine car. Blowing the whistle twice he released the breaks, the train slowly gaining speed. They waved him off and waited until they could no longer see the train before heading up. "Come on Dialia. I'll get us some homemade ice cream out of the freezer. Let's give your parents some alone time. I got the movie projector working so lets go watch one of those monster movies you like so much. " He picked her up, swinging her as they walked up. " Hey grandpa?" " Yes D?" "Do you think I'll ever have a brother or sister?" Sampson let loose a sigh, shaking his head. " Maybe kiddo. One of these days you might but lets not worry about that now. Lets just worry on what flavor we're having." A few minutes later Dialia was scooping cones for both of them, one chocolate and one fruity. On the way to the back room she saw something on the shelf that drew her curiosity. There was a book with large bold letters titled THE WILD WORLD EXPLORED 2076 ISSUE. picking it up she put it in her pocket before going in the back room from which the roars of monsters and screams of people echoed.


	4. The Ranger

6/27/2277  
I'm starting a new journal so i might as well start from the beginning. My Name Is Dialia Kannon, daughter of Eric and Lisa Kannon. I am 15 years old, 5'9 and I weigh 197 pounds. The reason I'm taller and weigh more is because I was not born in my hometown of Whitefield. I was created in a lab using my mother's egg and fathers DNA and as a embryo my genetic code was spliced with foriegn DNA. Due to this my muscle density is 3 times as much as a regular human. Above my ears a pair of horns are growing and they currently come to point near at the edge of my hair, growing half a inch a year. Tomorrow I'm getting on the train to head to Colorado springs, north of Trinidad, to meet my grandpa Sampson. Grandpa had just gotten done with a trade deal and I'm suppose to go pick him up. I'll be taking two days worth of cloths, some caps, and The Lance. A 50. caliber assault rifle with a 2-20 times zoom scope with night-vision with a 30 round drum magazine. I'm the only one in the town who can use it since there are no power suits in town and it kicks too much for a normal man. I don't really find the recoil to be all that bad. My dad, the town sheriff is currently dealing with a drug smuggler while my mother is busy in the clinic. They recently told me that I'll have a little brother or sister soon. Aside from all that I had a interesting day. I was scavenging parts at the power plant today, another side effect besides the bulletproof scales and the horns and enhanced senses of the gene manipulation is that radiation doesn't really affect me. Where a regular human would be dead within minutes I can just sit around for hours. Anyway's I was scavenging and I found something really cool. A trunk full of awesome loot. I found a power suit vault boy bobble head, 5 quantum nuka colas and a power suit helmet. I've got the helmet sitting on my desk, all the rust scrubbed off. When I get back I'll go back to the same spot to get the rest of the stuff. I wanna see if the rest of the suit and the frame is around there was well, it'd make an awesome Christmas present for dad. I'll probably have to replace the wiring but it should be fine otherwise. I'll write my next entry when I get back with grandpa, for now I'm heading to bed. Night

"Dialia get up. Your going to miss the train." Dialia was just stretching her arms when Lisa came in, spatula in hand. " You better hurry the train is taking off in fifteen minutes." Realizing she slept in Dialia jumped out of bed, rushing to put on her underwear, clothes and hood. Grabbing the power armor helmet, her bag and her two guns she ran down the stairs, grabbing the fried egg sandwich piled high with bacon she stuffed her mouth with one hand, opening the front door with the other. "Bye honey, take care. Don't let grandpa near the bar. See you in a few days." At the town entrance she waved to the guards after they checked her items, the train whistling as she jumped up on the engine cab. "Hi Roland, I'm glad you waited for me." The old bald man with a thick white beard was tossing coal in the fire pit, the brakes releasing to let the wheels free. " Did you oversleep Dialia. Your generally not one to be late." She jumped onto the coal car, climbing over to the crew cabin, everyone greeting her as she passed through. Moving to the next car which was the dining car she sat down in one of the door booths. The waiter came and took her order, fresh squeezed orange juice with a egg omelet. Taking the Power armor helmet out of her back she set to scraping away the corroded wiring and padding. At least the armor was designed to be easily repaired. The circuit were still mostly fine, being in the facial area that was shielded from weather. Taking the eye pieces out carefully she cleaned out the spaces, stopping when her order came. 

She was scarving down the omelet when a ghoul sat down across from her, dressed in fine white cloths that looked new. "Hello there little lady. I would like to ask if your interested in some extra caps. If you could deliver a package for me in Trinidad while the train is stopped. It's on the east side of tow" "No" The ghoul blinked a few times as if amazed she would refuse. " Look little girl, I'm offering you a large sum of caps for just going to one place in town while the trains stopped. If you don't want to get on my bad side I suggest you take the package to the address. " She ignored him, finishing the food and drink. He looked furious, standing up with his hand ready to hit her. His first strike missed, fingertips pulling her hood back, but it was quickly followed by a back hand that hit her right cheek. " Didn't your parents ever teach you to respect....your...elders?" Without her hood the horns on her head were clearly visible. The ghoul took a step back, unsure of what to do next. Standing quickly she grabbed his wrist, her grip crushing the bone beneath his skin. " Leave Now before I get angry." She released him causing him to fall . 

As he crawled away Roland came into the car, sitting down next to her. "Ever since the train line reached the east border with Texas we've had all sorts of weirdos coming through. They got heavily irradiated so there's a lot of mutants in the state. I even had someone called a Texas ranger on board last month. He had some strong armor too, reinforced lightweight poly steel, same stuff they used on tanks during the war." A woman in a mechanic suit came running up, whispering in his ear. "Well duty calls. We'll be at Trinidad in half an hour then its a 3 hour ride from there to Springs. It'll be a hour wait as we restock on fuel and water so why don't you walk around the stalls at the station. There's always someone with guns or parts for sale." He grabbed the power armor helmet off the table, examining it closely. "Where'd you find a T60 helmet. It looks like a E series too, only a few of these were made." Before she could stop him he started tinkering with the remaining wiring, a minute later a bright glow shone from within." A little trick I learned when I was in the Enclave was that some of the helmets had built in trackers to locate the armor if it got separated. The T60 D series was the first set to have this feature." Grabbing the eyepieces off the table he reset them, quickly replaced any wiring that was missing with spares from his pocket. "There you go, that should bed everything but the padding. Just use a thick sheet of cloth when you get home and that should do it." Roland walked off towards the engine, leaving her alone in the car. She didn't even get to thank him for fixing the helmet. Grabbing the helmet herself she flipped it, slowly pulling it over her head. The display shone brightly, her pulse going strong in the bottom left corner with the energy levels in the bottom right. A ammo counter in the top right was 0/0 indicating she need to enter the amount herself. Even with her horns she found the helmet surprisingly room. Pulling it off it was set on the table as she retrieved a small can of red paint from her bag.

When the train stopped, a slide led town from a tower, coal flowing down it into the car beneath, water flowed down a pipe into the engine. the passenger car doors opened, people stepping off. A man wearing a trench coat with a red lensed helmet was standing on the platform watching the people disembark. One caught his interest though. He could tell it was a woman but he couldn't see her face. She carried a large service rifle with a scope, possibly 338 from the looks of it, and was wearing the helmet of a power armor suit. The helmet had a sharp toothed smile painted on with bright green eyes above the eyepieces. On the side LITTLE MONSTER was painted onto the rusty grey metal. His first guess was that she was a scavenger or seasoned hunter but from her gait her could tell that was wrong. She didn't have the air of an experienced fighter even though she was fit and easily as heavy as he was. He watched the train engineer come by to talk to her. Getting closer he could hear a little of their conversation. "Head over to the Black Top bar while your waiting. Susie's got the best chili I've had. Oh and before you come back can you grab some Sunset sarsaparilla for me. Thanks D" It was obvious he knew her well, perhaps a family friend or something more. He had a bit of time before he had to go on his way, might as well find out who this curious woman was. He followed her out of the wooden station, down the street, entering a corner bar that had seen better days. Walking in behind her he sat in the corner, back to the wall while the girl sat at the bar to his left. The bar tender came out with a steaming bowl and several bottles of soda. The woman only lifted the helmet enough to eat, her face still blocked from view. It was the two men sitting at the end of the bar who came on his mind. They wore leather cloths with spikes littered all over. One had the front of a human skull hanging over his crotch and a red leather jacket while the other was shirtless, with what looked like ax blades surgically embedded in his arms. Both of them had the air of killers about them and he could tell what they were. Raiders.

Dialia tossed the bartender the caps she owed before putting the soda in her bag. As she walked out the door she noticed the two men exit behind her. In the distance the train whistle was blowing, signaling it was about to depart. Before she could run the two men pulled her into the alley she was passing. "Hey there little girl. Do you want to play some games?" The one with the axes in his arms was holding her against the wall while the other one had a sawed off in his hand. " Why don't you take that helmet off so we can see your pretty face. I wanna give it a big smack on the lips." She didn't have her guns having left them with Roland, but she did have her natural weapons. "Chop-chop hurry the fuck up if your gonna do something. I want a piece of that body too." Ax man let go of one arm which his friend grabbed hold of, his hand lifting the helmet. When the helmet lid got over her mouth she struck. Sharp canines sinking deep through flesh to the wrist bone, puncturing a blood vessel. His buddy raised his gun but the arm he held down ripped from his grip, her hand grabbing his head to slam it into the wall behind her. As the gun man fell unconscious with a shattered nose she bit down harder on the mans wrist, feeling the cartilage break beneath her bite. He was screaming his head off until she grabbed it, slamming it into the white brick wall. A blood spatter was left as he slide down with half a face. Pulling the helmet back down she picked up her bag from the muddy ground before walking back to the street. The man with the shotgun was only half conscious when he took the first shot, the slug tearing through her cloths into her center back causing her to stumble. Whirling around to face him he fired the second barrel off, the slug hitting the helmet. She fell backwards knocked out. The attempted rapist stood up, kicking his friend who was still unconscious. " Well you tried ya little slut. Real nice try. I'm gonna take you back and all the boys gonna have fun with ya until your dead. Now come here you bit" His teeth went flying out the back of his head as the 44 slug passed through. Her rescuer walked to the other rapist, putting a bullet in his head. He picked the girl up over his shoulder and her bag. Grunting at the weigh he hustled to the train, carrying her on board. He set her down in a booth on the dining car with the occupants staring wide eyed.. Guns clicked behind him and when he turned the crew were pointing 7 shotguns and rifles at him. "I don't know who the fuck you are or what your doing on my train but you fuck with one of my friends I'll fuck with you. " The rescuer was barely able to put his hands up before a rifle butt flew towards his face.

Dialia woke with a insane migraine. Looking around she saw that she was in the crew car, all her stuff on the right side of the bed. In the corner of the cabin was a teenage guy only a few years older then her. He was wearing some kind of armor beneath a trench coat. He was tied to one of the corner beds, rope tight against his wrists. "Well look who's awake. I save the princess and this is the thanks I get. Can you untie me so I can take a piss?" She got up, pistol in hand as she walked over to him. Slowly she untied him, letting him up before guiding him to the restroom. "Who are you?" "I'm the guy who saved your life after you got knocked out. I wanted to ask, how did a bullet in the back not kill you. I saw then take a slug out of your clothes earlier. They blocked my view but from what I heard all you had was some bruising. You don't have a head injury so why is there a towel wrapped around it." Sh poked him in the back with the pistol, wanting him to hurry up. "That's not the answer to my question. Who are you. He zipped his pants up and before she knew what happened her head was pressing against the floor with her own pistol against her back. "I'm a NCR Ranger and I'm looking for someone.


	5. Max the Axe

Dialia felt the cold metal of her own pistol pressed against her back. The guy had her arms pinned and she had no leverage to push with. "Now lets see what your hiding under that towel." He reached for it, grabbing edge before jerking back. It was her only chance while the airborne cloth blocked his view. Throwing all her weight to her right side she flipped over, knocking him over. Rolling again she pinned the gun hand, her legs flying out to wrap around his left arm. His head was press tight against her side, the hand with the gun being crushed. "I'll stay like this all night if I have to. Are you going to let the gun go?" She could feel his fingers wiggling under her back. His left hand balling up, pounding at her legs. He opened his mouth, biting down on soft skin through her shirt. "owww, let go bastard. That hurts." He had bitten her on the side where her scales ended and skin began, making it sensitive. She heard the door to the other cars open outside the restroom, one of the female crew looking in. "Dialia, I have some lunch for you to eat before we get to Springs. Where are you." She looked in the restroom, nearly dropping the tray when she saw them. "Little help? I've got his gun hand pinned." The crew member set the tray down before rushing over. She pinned the rangers arms to allow Dialia to get up. She took her pistol back before retying his hands. Dialia picked him up, taking out and dropping him on a mattress. He wasn't able to see as she covered her head with a scarf from her bag. "Now that your all tied up let's try this again. Who are you?" 

Close up she could tell he was about her age give or take a year, he didn't look half bad with his platinum blond hair cut short along with the lateral scar under his left eye. "Like I said I'm a NCR ranger and I'm looking for someone." " Bullshit!" Dialia looked towards the engine to see Roland come in the door. "I've never seen a ranger as young as you and there's nothing out here they'd be interested in. So I have to wonder? Are you really a Ranger, and who is it you could be looking for?" He remained stubborn until Roland pulled out a blow torch, putting the blue flame near his eyes. "Alright Alright you win. I was sent by my commander, Veteran Ranger Colonel Moore to find a Lt.Colonel Eric Kannon. The NCR managed to push the legion across the Colorado and they want Kannon to lead a force from the east to trap them against the defenses of Hoover Dam. " He continued on about needing to find him within a certain amount of time until Dialia interrupted him. " So you came all the way here from the NCR and had my own gun against my back just to find my father?

" WHAT! He's your father? You have to be lying." Dialia took a picture out of her wallet, It was from when when she was still little. She was sitting on Eric's shoulders while Lisa made a funny face. "This is Eric Kannon my father. That's my mother Lisa." The guy was silent for a moment, face blank. "My names Walker. Rookie ranger of the NCR. Pretty sure they sent me because if I die its not much of a loss for them." Roland picked up the guys helmet, inspecting it closely. "He's telling the truth bout the ranger bit. Never seen this armor issued to anyone else. Thing I don't get though is how a rookie has veteran armor when only 20 year veterans get it. " " I have my uncle to thank for that. He lent me his armor for the trip." The engineer on shift came down, announcing Springs was in sight. Roland walked toward the engine, the whistle blowing in the background. "We'll deal with him later. Dialia, you need to get your stuff together, your grandpa's waiting at the station. I'll have the sheriff hold the ranger until we head back south." Dialia picked up her gear before heading to the passenger car to wait for the stop. When the conductors opened the doors She stepped off into her grandfathers arms. "Dialia! how are you, how was the trip. I want to hear all about your way up." The two of them walked off from the station through the streets towards a beautiful tan colored hotel covered in plant growth.

The next day went by relatively quick with Dialia buying some gifts for her parents and some padding for her helmet. Grandpa Sampson introduced her to some of his trader buddies, keeping her head covered through the meetings. At the end of the evening she and her grandfather were eating in a pizzeria when Walker walked through the door to their shock. "Surprised to see me aren't ya? The sheriff let me go when he couldn't find any broken laws. I already have my ticket to travel south with you on the train." Sampson looked from Dialia to Walker then back again. "Is this the boy you were telling me about?" " Yes grandpa it is. I do not and will not have a crush on this guy EVER!" Her grandpa had been teasing her that having a handsome guy put a gun in her back meant he liked her and it was driving her nuts. "Please sit as far from me as possible on the train until we get home. Then you can talk to my father and get out." Her eyes were beginning to change, a reaction to her anger. Dialia had been embarrassed when he turned her own gun on her and made her prisoner for a few short moments. She had to turn away so Walker could not see her changed eyes. Sampson finished his food quickly, motioning for her to finish as well. Both of them hurried out followed by Walker, pulling on his helmet. " I still don't believe that Lt.Colonel Kannon is your father. My luck can't be this good." Dialia was starting to consider shooting him by the time they reached the train, Roland welcomed her and Sampson into the VIP car but stopped Walker. "Sorry all non VIPs go to the back cars." No matter what he said Roland wouldn't let him in the VIP car. He tried every excuse until the train whistle blew. Reluctantly he headed towards the back car, jumping on as the wheels unlocked.

In the distance, two optics watched the train depart from Colorado springs. "Is that it, the target?" The person was covered in camouflaged armor, face covered by a metal mask covered in spikes. Next to him sat a teenage girl who wore a schoolgirl outfit. "Yeah that's it. They said they want her alive but we can kill everyone else. I'll get so many new toys to play with." The girl, head covered by a worn clown mask jumped off her perch, running down to an old pickup truck covered in bolted down metal. " Question, can I at least cut off a limb or two?" Metal face jumped in the bed, cocking the harpoon gun. " They want her alive, doesn't mean she has to be in one piece."

It was the screeching of the breaks and being thrown to the car floor that warned everyone the train was suddenly stopping. A crew member ran from car to car shouting for everyone to evacuate. " We're under attack, everyone off the tra." He was cut down when bullets started to rain through the roof, everyone taking what cover they could. Dialia crouched over her grandpa, wincing as the slugs hit her back but were stopped by her scales. The pings were bullets bouncing off her helmet, the sound deafening inside. The deadly hail stopped, giving her the chance to grab her rifle. A bare chested woman fell through the shredded roof, spraying her submachine gun all over until Dialia put a round in her chest. Dialia could hear more gunfire from the back, towards the opening of the canyon the train was in. Sampson rushed through the door "We have to get up front to the crew car. That's where all the weapons are." More raiders jumped through the roof, two of the men grabbing one of the female passengers and dragging her outside. Dialia fired at them with her rifle, the heavy rounds tearing through raiders and walls. The two of them went out the door, bullets whizzing by them. A leather covered raider came around the corner of the next car, Dialia's fist smashing into his face before he could raise his shotgun. She turned around, a raider raising a hunting rifle to her grandpa's head until his own exploded. Wearing his full armor, Walker jumped from the rear car roof with revolver in hand. "We have to get out of this canyon. They have the high ground and we're out numbered, outgunned.' An explosion filled with screams came from the back cars. "Everyone back there is dead or dying. We need to get to the engine, drive out of the canyon, and haul ass. The three of them ran together. Dialia and Walker fired at the raiders as they ran, hitting some but missing most.

Dialia slammed the door shut behind them, bullets pinging of the reinforced metal. Roland threw a grenade out a window at the end of the crew car before pulling down the metal shutter. "Goddammit. We can't move the train until we push that boulder off the track. We'd need some dynamite or a super mutant for that." A bullet whizzed through an open slot, ricocheting into a crew members gut. Among the gunfire and screams Dialia made a break neck decision. Without a word she ran out the door, leaping to the ground before dashing to the front of the train. A boulder as tall as her waist and as wide as a cow sat on the track. Getting on the side of the boulder she pushed but it wouldn't budge. " Hey boys look. The little girl's trying to push the boulder." The raiders stopped firing to laugh as she strained against the boulder. It slowly began to budge when she was hit. Something had crashed into her side to send her flying. Her right side burned as another blow hit her before a spike covered boot pinned her to the ground. " We'll keep this one boys, have your fun with the rest then kill them." Dialia didn't see the small metal boot fly towards her face. 

Walker was the only one surprised when a near inhuman roar. Sampson dropped the shells out of the cylinder of his revolver before using a speed loader. "Aw hell they pissed her off. We'll have to wait until she calms down before we can leave." Something slammed into the side of the rail car, denting the thin metal of the door. Walker looked through a peep hole to see Dialia pick up a raider before throwing him into the car. Her eye locked onto his and it gave him chills. It was like looking to a predators eye, full of bloodlust and hunger. " Get The TRAIN MOVING." She spoke with a harsh voice like she could barely control herself. Roland must have heard her because he rushed to the engine. From the crew car which sat behind the coal car they could hear him. "She moving the boulder. Looks like she took out more then a few guys before she did it. One of the crew members jumped onto the coal pile, shoveling it as fast as he could. Sampson kept the suppressive fire up while Walker moved to the engine to cover Roland. "These bastards are smart. They made sure to hit us where they have the high ground and where we can't call for help." Roland pulled the break lever to let the breaks free. Dialia heard the hiss, jumping from the ground to the train roof easily, her clothes shredded from gunfire. In all the chaos the man with the spike helmet stood to the front of the train on the railway. "Hahahaha. This isn't the last we'll see each other little girl. I am quite interested with you now. I want to know what color your blood is. How your screams sound and how you taste. Remember my name for I'll come for you girl. My name is Max the Axe." His laughter echoed as the train picked up speed, stepping to the left off the track seconds before it could hit him.

Dialia dropped to the floor of the crew cab. Her wheezing echoed through the car as Walker brought up a medical kit. "What the fuck is she. she's fucking bulletproof!" A crew member cut off her shirt to reveal the scales on her back before rolling her over. Three holes in her chest, one between her breasts, one above her waist, and one in the gut, were all bleeding. Sampson pulled out one bullet with pliers before bandaging. "We need to get her a doctor. her ribs stopped two of the bullets but one hit her soft spot." Walker just watched in silent horror as she was stripped to check for more injuries. "What the hell is she. This isn't just some mutation caused by radiation." He was trying to rationalize what he was seeing until Sampson slapped his helmet. "Keep your shit together boy and help me. I'll explain later but right now my granddaughter's life is on the line.


	6. All over ......

As the train moved full speed ahead, Sampson was tending to Dialia on one of the crew beds. He had managed to pull out the 38 slugs that had been stopped by the rib cage but he was unsure of the bullet that had penetrated her soft belly tissue. Walker was applying bandages even as Sampson worked on finding the bullet in Dialia's gut. Suddenly her left hand shot up, grabbing his hand before he could move the forceps in. " I'll.....I'll do it. Mom taught me everything." Her voice didn't fill Sampson with confidence since it was shaky. Reluctantly he let her take the forceps, holding up a hand mirror for her to see the wound. She gritted her teeth at the forceps entered the wound. Internally she felt the cold metal slither down into her gut, the anesthetic numbing the pain. She felt the small dink when the magnetized forceps touched the slug and using the mirror she grasped it before extracting. A gush of blood followed the bullet as she let it fall to the floor. Sampson injected a stimpack before applying the bandage. Dialia passed out again as the old man stood up to clean the blood off. "With the stimpack and her advanced cell regeneration she'll be fine in a few days I think but Lisa will still want to look at her." Walker dropped her towel to the floor, washing the blood off in a water dish. "I think its about time you told me what the hell she is!" Sampson nodded before motioning for him to follow to what remained of the dining car.

"You're right when you say Dialia isn't my granddaughter by birth, well technically right. Dialia came to us when she was about five years old. She sought Lisa out through sheer instinct. She was created in a lab using my daughters unfertilized egg, don't ask how they got it. They mixed it with Eric's DNA and decided to toss in some deathclaw into the mixture for shits and giggles I guess. She escaped somehow and came home to us. The first few years were fine until she was almost 8. Lisa was treating a chem addict when he pulled a knife. Hewas getting ready to stab Lisa over a few pain killers when Dialia went berserk for the first time. She jumped on him and clawed his eyes out as well as biting off a few fingers. She only stopped attacking him when he curled into a ball. Afterwards after the man was treated and taken away I asked her about it and she didn't remember doing it. All she remembered was the man pulling the knife and a urge to protect her mother. It's happened a few other times but not as intense as the first time. We call it frenzy since she'll attack anything that moves." Walker had to take a few minutes to soak it all in. He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it himself. "Is there anything else I should know. Can she shoot radioactive beams from her mouth or make things explode with her mind?" Sampson was scratching thoughtfully at his beard when he answered. "Well radiation doesn't really affect her and the few mutated animals we have in the valley avoid her like the plague. She also has horns growing off her head. You might not have seen them with her hair and helmet on. She has a higher muscle and bone density. I think that's about it." Walker sat down on one of the beds while taking it all in. The train whistle blew to signal they were approaching Trinidad. A crew member walked in, blood on his clothes. " Out of the 50 odd passengers in the back 3 are alive. We're going straight to Whitefield for medical help since Trinidad doesn't have any good doctors." Other crew members carried the few survivors on stretchers. two men and a small girl were all that was left of the passengers. It broke Walker's heart to see the girl, wooden splinters having blinded her. The bloodied crew member gave her anesthesia before heading for the door. " One of the men isn't going to last the rest of the trip but I hope the others do. Walking outside too Walker looked back at Dialia, chest covered in bandages and head under a blanket. He hated that part of the human race, the part that caused misery to no end.

As soon as the train pulled into the Whitefield the town guards were in shock at the sight of the train. Of the 5 cars only the engine and the crew car were relatively unscathed. The dining car and the two passenger cars were riddled with holes, half of the last car gone from a explosive fire with the smell of cooked meat emanating from inside. Eric was the first to come running to the crew car as Sampson and a crew member carried Dialia on a stretcher. " Damn raiders. it'll take me months to repair the cars not to mention any structural damage." Roland came off the engine cussing and shouting. Guards took the wounded up the hill while the dead were covered in sheets right by the track. Out of the 62 passengers and crew 53 were dead with 3 wounded. Walker was saying a prayer over the dead when a guard grabbed his shoulder. " Hey the boss is waiting for the survivors back at the station. He want's everyone account of the attack so he can coordinate with the pathfinders on how to deal with these raiders." Walker followed him, taking a quick look up the hill where the wounded had been taken. 

Lisa had rushed to Dialia's side when she was brought into the clinic but Sampson had urged her onto the two more critically wounded. She was able to save the child's left eye but the right was completely destroyed. Splinter and metal fragments were embedded in her arms, indicating she'd shielded herself. After pulling out the shards and applying antiseptic bandages she looked at the man. Several gunshot wounds to the arms as well as a large wood fragment sticking out of his chest. It was only after 2 1/2 hours of surgery she was able to close him up. He could live with half a liver and one kidney. When she went to Dialia Sampson explained what happened. She used a x-ray to check the wound herself, satisfied not to see any metal slivers left behind. She had a guard help with carrying Dialia to her room where a IV was set up. By the time the sun was setting she'd set up a medical history for the two new patients and got them settled in. Sampson hugged her tightly before walking out to his shop to sleep. It was about 9 when Dialia came down the steps, a painful grimace on her face. " I feel like I got shot." Lisa couldn't help but laugh at her statement. " Well you did get shot. With 10mm and 38. rounds no less. At least I taught you enough to commence surgery on yourself." Dialia sat down on the couch next to her with a groan, her bandages restricting her chest from moving quickly. " I feel like eating a whole deer, I can't remember when I last ate." Lisa chuckled at that, going to the kitchen. She came back with a plate of elk cut and potato smothered in sauces. " Go ahead and eat. I know your cell regeneration burns lots of calories." About half the plate was gone in a matter of minutes. " Where's dad. He normally walks in the door about now. "

Hours earlier around one in the afternoon Walker was sitting in the old police building with the other survivors. The town sheriff stood in front of them with barrel chested large man who wore only leather pants and shoes. On the belt was a hatchet and darts with a bow hanging off his shoulder. "Alright everyone listen up. This is Silent Bear of the Apache nation. He's hear to listen to your stories then he'll give us a general vicinity of the raiders base." One by one the people were taken into the interrogation room to explain their version of what happened. When it was Walker's turn he was escorted in to sit before the sheriff and Silent Bear. " Hello I'm Eric Kannon, sheriff of Whitefield. Please state your name and talk into the microphone. " Walker was itching to talk to him about his reason for being there but he could see Eric was worried about something. He sat there for an hour noting the raiders armor, weapons, and skills. At the end he was asked outside where the sun was setting. Walker looked at his watch, the big hand right on the five. putting on his helmet over his platinum blonde hair he sat on the bench to wait. It was nearly ten when Eric walked outside, Walker sitting up like lightning. "You can be at ease kid. I know when someone goes to attention. What's a ranger doing all the way out here." Walker tried to talk but Eric cut him off. " Doesn't matter right now. I want to go home, eat a hot meal with my family then sleep." Without another word he walked up the hill. Worn ranger armor showing beneath his coat. Having nowhere else to go Walker followed him.

It was early morning when Dialia came down from her room, the book At the Earth's Core in her hands. When she saw the armored trench coat wearing Walker at the table she was dumbstruck. "What the hell are you doing in my house?" Her mother popped her head from around the kitchen doorway with a frown on her face. " Don't be rude to our guest especially since your father wants to talk to him. At the mention of him Eric came down the stairs in his pajamas. Hugging Dialia before sitting at the table Walker tried to talk but was again interrupted. " Breakfast first then you can tell me what you want." Everyone sat down to a silent breakfast of man on a raft and potatoes. Eric set his plate aside, elbows on the table with fists supporting his head. "It's obvious your here for a reason kid. For a ranger, even a trainee, to come all the out here means something big happened and the NCR wants my help. The answer is NO. 


	7. But the crying

Everyone but Walker continued eating breakfast after Eric announced his decision. "W-why? The NCR needs your help to hold on to Hoover Dam. You'd be getting your rank back, the government would reward you with a home and land on fertile ground. You'd be a hero." Eric set his plate in the sink, a somber air flowing from him. " I already did all that shit. I fought raiders, captured new territory, climbed through the ranks and commanded those below. Yet when I chose the lives of my men over the mission I was called a coward. The public wanted me gone and the government was happy to give me the boot. Now they want me to come back to save their asses from the hole they dug themselves into. They'll praise me as a hero, forgetting what they did in the past. They dishonored me and they dishonored the men who fought tooth and nail under my command." 

He got up, heading upstairs. Walker watched him go before letting his shoulders drop in defeat. "What was he even talking about. All I've ever heard about him were good things." Lisa took his plate, feeding the scraps to the dog sitting on the floor. " We don't know either. He doesn't talk about his time in the NCR very often." Lisa muttered as she walked through the door into the clinic, leaving Dialia and Walker alone. She too placed her plate in the sink before walking upstairs to get dressed, Flipz following her to leave Walker by himself.

Dialia dressed herself, pulling on a blue shirt with a faded Nuka cola logo while her pants were worn jeans her dad used to wear. Placing a raggedy worn cowboy hat on her head she picked up her handgun before heading outside. The streets were busy on that morning, the local farmers bringing in their produce even with the big events of the previous day. The little plaza down the street from her grandpa's store was full of stalls selling various items from guns and ammo to local grown crops. There was even a vendor selling several power core operated dirt bikes that were in good condition. "Only here in town can you find functioning motorbikes. All others have been scrapped or rusted away." Dialia watched closely as some scavengers inspected the bikes. The vendor even started it, the deep mechanical growl drawing attention from all across the plaza. Everyone gathered around as the vendor revved the throttle. " They can get across some of the toughest terrain the wasteland can offer, carry 2 people or any extra equipment you may have and take you a days walking distance in an hour. The power core is enough to power this baby for weeks with regular maintenance and they can be yours for 8'000 caps apiece!" In that one instant he lost most of his audience, the price driving them off. Only two people in town had that amount and Dialia's grandfather was one of them. The only other person examining the bikes besides her was and outsider who wore a cloak over his scavengers gear. " Hello young lady might you be interested in one of these rare machines?" The vendor in his patched clothes walked her along a beautiful machine, painted in red and black with blue spokes. " It's all yours for 8,000 caps." She examined it for a while before shaking her head, horns hidden under her hat. "I don't have the caps right now but I do know a place that has rare scavenge I can trade. It'll take a day to get it and bring it back." The vendor had a pondering look  
on his face. "Depends on what you bring back but I won't accept cheap scavenge." He turned around, talking to the other customer as she looked at the bike before heading back to the house to get her gear.

"Where are we going?" Walker was breathing hard, the boulder strewn hills working against him as he tried to keep up with her. She on the other hand had no problem, having traversed this terrain for years. " There's a old military weather monitoring station on top of the next peak. Nobody's really gone there to scavenge since its a hard trip. I would have gone to the power plant but the radiation would have killed you and the good loot is deeper inside." Even with her rifle, backpack, and her pouch carrier on she was able to climb up a steep incline of loose soil that he struggled to climb wearing his armor and his rifle. " How much further is it. My thighs won't take much more of this." He pulled himself up besides her on the hilltop where she was surveying the weather station. From where they stood he could see the rusting radar dishes, the antenna's and the buildings roof. " looks in good condition for its age. Lets keep going." Dialia eyed the building through the scope of her rifle. " Too bad the tunnel up the mountain collapsed, would've been alot easier. We have another half hour of climbing then we're there." She looked back at him as he was bent over gasping for breath." Oh good I can't wait. I bet it'll be loads of fun."

He regretted his earlier statement greatly. He and Dialia had been going through the station, collecting electronics parts and other long hidden treasures from inside the station when he had pressed a hidden switch while searching a shelf. In the stations main tiled hallway a elevator opened. Dialia gave him a mischievous look before entering and before he could refuse she pulled him in. The elevator went down a ways before opening into a corridor that likely hadn't seen light for decades. The was a desk by the elevator door and with the light from the elevator he could see a flashing phrase on the desks terminal. 'Warning. Warning. Nuclear detonation detected. All personnel perform evacuation protocol. Warning. Warning.' He activated the night vision of his helmet, the darkness turning a light green. " Stay behind me, I'll take point." He tried to sound authoritative but she just walked by him. Pulling his revolver they down the hallway, peaking into dark rooms with beeping lights, the silence occasionally broken by the whir of malfunctioning machinery. He stepped into an open doorway, the room dark even to his night vision. His finger flicked the light switch and the scene nearly made him puke in his helmet. There was a human, or at least it used to be in a large glass tube in the room. Cables and lines ran in and out of the body, thorns growing from all over its skin. Its open blank eyes were darker then black, the light reflecting off them. He heard Dialia gasp behind him, looking back to see her in the room across the hallway. He could see A small figure inside another tank, something was familiar about it. On a plate at the bottom there was a series number, S102D3. The thing inside the tank was a little girl, maybe 6 or 7. Completely nude inside the tank all of the mutations were clearly visible. Scales and scutes grew along the back, A short tail grew from above the buttocks and short curving horns from above the ears. The soft features of the face were enhanced by the rough scales on the cheeks. Dialia stood there looking at the thing that so closely resembled her. " Oh my god. She's....She's just like me." He came up behind her, looking at the terminal by the tank. A button labeled release subject was bright among the other buttons that had long been dead. " D, look at this." She nodded her head as he pointed at the button, then he pressed it.

The fluid drained from the tank and the glass opened. The naked form collapsed to the floor. Both of them stood still, even as the form stirred. The child from the tank got onto her knees, the oxygen mask falling from her face. With bright green eyes she looked at them, and then she screeched. Leaping from the floor she latched onto Dialia to sink nails and teeth into flesh. Walker turned to help but a wayward strike from Dialia threw him to the floor. The hostile little beast caused Dialia to back into the hallway and towards the end where a guardrail separated the hall from empty space. With a big kick the little beast pushed Dialia off the guardrail into the darkness. He stepped out of the room the little monster had been held in to find the hallway empty. With revolver in hand he slowly backed up towards the elevator with nothing in sight. He was about tot eh open light when the little beast jumped from the ceiling on top of him. The ranger sequoia slid across the floor while the little beast tried to bite through his armor. He flipped over to knock the frenzied beast off. Immediately it jumped back on him, biting for his throat, using hits claws to get more grip. He was doing a sine job keeping it off until one of its feet made a hard kick into his unprotected groin. Reactively his hands went to his groin, choking on pain. The little beast clawed at him but couldn't get through his armor until one of its hands found purchase under his helmet. It follow through with its discovery, yanking his helmet off painfully before snapping at his eyes. with one arms his kept its sharp claws out of his face. Again he tossed it off before reaching for his gun. In the corner of his eye he could see it preparing to leap and it nearly did too until a angry scream echoed off the tiled floor. He looked down the hallway towards the edge where and Dialia fell, a shape moving in the dark. Pounding footsteps echoed until something charged by him to send the beast flying. He could tell that she was berserk, growls emanating from her throat. Dialia let out an immense roar that was deafening in the tight space, the smaller mutant intimidated but still growling back none the same.

It was over in a second. The younger girl had charged before leaping only to be batted down. From there Dialia had pinned her to the ground before leaning in to lightly bite the neck. The younger mutant squealed, trying to break free but went limp when instinct told her it was over. Dialia released the little girl who cowered at her feet, her sense coming back to her. Without giving Walker a look she grabbed what items she dropped and the girl before walking in the elevator. "Lets leave before we accidentally wake anything else up." He agreed wholeheartedly to that, following her into the light.

At the same time in a room lit by screens two men had watched the whole thing play out. " Well that's quite interesting. I wonder how they made it into our old facility, release a subject that's been in stasis for over a decade, and stop its frenzy. Zoom in on the girl." The image grew larger, the girl's face highlighted. " So that's how they calmed the little devil. They used a bigger one. Tell our man in Whitefield to monitor the situation more closely. on the monitor screen the girls eyes shone brighter then any human's ever could.

It took hours to get back, especially with the unexpected baggage and the need to keep the scavenge in one piece. As the night was rolling in they walked through the front door of the clinic, Walker collapsing to the floor with Dialia setting down her packs before doing the same. " My legs won't move. I've lost all feeling in them." He took off his helmet to pour water from his canteen on his face. Lisa came in carrying a jug of lemonade and a tray of bread. "Hey guys how'd the trip go? Get any good scavenge?" She opened up the bigger back to scream in shock. From inside the little girl crawled out slowly before falling to the cushions below with only a blanket wrapped around her. " Dialia! what is this? Where did she come from?" The younger girl climbed on Dialia's lap before curling up to sleep. " Sorry mom, she'll be kind of hard to explain so for now let's just say she's my little sister. Eric came in a moment later with his gun drawn. " What happened, who screamed?" He noticed the girl sleeping on Dialia's lap, Putting his gun away." Great. Not like we had enough mouths to feed here."


	8. They who play god

" I'm curious as to how this will work out. Subject S109D7 has recovered S102D3 from our side facility and is acting as the teacher in their relationship. I want as much surveillance as possible on them. It's possible we may have found what we've been missing in our research all this time." Behind the elder man people moved, speaking to him from a background of noise. A paper was handed to him, a look of anger on his face. " I see. So she's making her move. I'm going outside for a bit so keep me updated." Putting on a trench coat he walked up stairs thinking to himself 'Its been almost ten years since I've been outside.'

In Whitefield Dialia was busy giving her little sister a bath, Christine was struggling to get out of the soapy water. "Settle down. I know you don't like water but we need you clean to meet the town. Lisa came in taking her place and telling her to help her father. Christine's tone changed at her adopted mother's softer touch, going from crying to laughing. It had been a month since she'd come to live with them and while it was a shock she was quickly accepted as the youngest member of the family. She only tried to frenzy once until she learned the way things worked. Walker during that time had been trying to convince her father to help the NCR to no avail. Dialia went into the garage where her pride and joy sat under a tarp. The cloth went flying to reveal a red and black dirt-bike, hungry jaws painted on the black fender and red metal bolted over the engine to protect its vital components. She caressed the soft leather sit with a urge to jump on and ride on the reinforced suspension. A urge that was dashed when her father came in looking for her. " Dialia come on, we gotta head to the main gate since the trade caravan's arriving. I need all the help since most of the guards are on patrol." She followed him out where Walker was waiting on the front porch. " Will you stop slobbering over that bike, we only risked our lives to get the caps needed to buy it." Walker wasn't in his usual armor, instead wearing worn jeans and nuka cola shirt. She wore her hat to cover her horns and made sure all her mutations were covered before following them down hill. "There's alot of brahmin to check so don't expect any breaks for awhile. Eric pulled his faded black sheriff hat over his brow with the morning sun glinting off the metal of his revolver. 

Lisa set Christine on the couch wrapped in a towel before going into the kitchen to make breakfast. She remembered the day Dialia brought her home and then the medical examination. Biologically Christine and Dialia were the same except for a few minor differences. The surprising thing was that Christine had Lisa's genetic material as well as the same reptilian DNA Dialia had. This meant that whoever made both of them had Lisa's DNA from even earlier then she though and they had used the same deathclaw specimen for the altered DNA they both had, making them truly half sisters. Lisa started the eggs then set out to dress Christine. She had managed to get pants on the little girl before the door bell rang, distracting her long enough to let Christine escape. With a exasperated sigh She went to the door where an old man wearing a brown suit with a salt and pepper mustache groomed into a smooth handlebar. "Hello Doctor, nice weather we're having today, we may even get rain. May I come in." She led him inside the clinic where he laid his coat on the examination table, the cold metal of the stethoscope pressed against this back. "I'm not really here for a check up Doctor. I wanted to ask about something. How are your two daughters, I'm sure their a handful especially with their mutations." She didn't know what to say, especially as he put his coat back on before asking for a coffee. " We can discuss this over breakfast because I smell it cooking. Christine came running in half dressed and upon seeing the old man started to growl. "Aww there she is. How long has it been since I've seen you?"

Dialia let the final brahmin pass into town, not finding anything hidden. It was near noon when they finished inspecting the trade caravan and the market square was now filled with traders busy setting up their product. She grabbed a cold drink with a grilled brahmin sandwich, sitting beneath the shade of the trees. The old red brick buildings contrasted with the green grass and trees of the market, worn ads still visible on the walls. She saw her father go out the gates and Walker was talking to some traders from Nevada. She finished her meal in peace and quiet before heading to her grandpa's store. "Good afternoon Dialia, are you all done with work for the day?" She nodded as she took the cup of cherry snow ice cream from the freezer, a large spoonful already in her mouth. " Yeah. I'm headed up to the clinic now to help mom with Christine." She left the store in a hurry as a group of traders walked in. She walked into the clinic as a brain freeze hit, the pin causing her to squint. She didn't notice the old man sitting on the couch and almost went up the stairs to her room when her mother called to her. "Dialia is that you? Can you come here please." Back in the waiting room sat her mother with Christine asleep on her lap. Dialia sat on the couch beside her, the old man across from them. "Dialia you need to hear this." Her mother looked anxious and smelled of fear. She watched the old man, noting every detail of his face and something seemed familiar about him. " Hello Dialia, My name is Arnold Kern and I'm the man who created you.

"What?" She didn't know what to say, mind overcome by shock. " I know it must be hard to take in suddenly by I created you almost 18 years ago, physically your almost 16 but that's due to the stasis you were put in when you were a newborn. I originally intended for the only the muscle density and cell regeneration to be the only alterations but the sample DNA had some side effects and." Dialia couldn't focus, her mind blank. She got off the couch heading to her room. Lisa turned to Arnold, apologizing. "It's alright, it must be quite shocking to her. But I don't have very much time to wait for her to calm down, I have to explain why she exists and the dangers that are growing." Lisa went upstairs, trying to coerce Dialia from her room. It took nearly and hour before she would peep out, Arnold at the door. "Dialia you exist for a reason, we wanted you to be the hope for humanity." she wasn't understanding a word he said at all. "Let me explain. I was born long before the war in 2039. I excelled in class, becoming a major researcher in genetics manipulation, everyone from large companies to the military wanted to have me but I refused. I joined a organization that used science to further the human race, ignoring status, religion, or nationality. We had russians, chinese, german, american and many different nationalities all working together. Even the war did not hurt our cause. After the bombs fell many of the researchers in the country went into stasis, some staying awake to further our research. We took turns, cycling every few years. As for you, you are one of the products of our research. The human race faced extinction after the war so we searched for ways to evolve humanity to adapt to this new deadly world through many methods. Mostly we faced failure after failure but we started succeeding by not looking to the future but the past. We're able to' in your case' attach the deathclaw dna to your own by reversing certain redundant genes that were left in our strands. Humans evolved from small mammals that evolved from reptiles. By reversing those genes the body would accept the reptilian DNA as it's own. " She looked completely lost, eyes blank. "Huh I guess it's my fault, explaining advanced genetics to a teenager raised in the post apocalypse. In simple terms you are what we have been trying to achieve for so long. Your the next step in evolution."

"We tried all sorts of things. We used DNA from mutated and non mutated animals but most experiments failed. It was 30 years ago when we started to have success but most subjects didn't survive past the 6th month of development, their bodies were destroying themselves inside out. The few that did survive looked barely human. it was 19 years ago that we created our first recognizably human subjects, having ironed most of the appearance kinks out. But we couldn't solve the behavioral traits, many of the subjects being extremely aggressive, too docile, or just displaying strange behavior. Most of my partners believed it was a problem with the dna but me and a few others believed it was how we raised them. Most of the time the beings we created we treated like animals, not people. There is one in particular who grew angry at this lack of progress. Cynthia Declarc who's originally from France believe in our work but she takes it in a different direction. I want our creations, the next stage stage of Humanity that we create to be strong, but wise and peaceful, not war mongers like their predecessors. She wants them to be the best, the strongest and to destroy anything in their way. To her it's survival of the fittest." Arnold finished speaking and the silence was deafening. 

"Why are you telling me all this?" Dialia peaked out from her door, confusion still present on her face. "I want you to come back to me to our facility so that all of my compatriots can see that we can't continue how we are. We have to take a new approach or we will keep failing." Arnold took something from her coat pocket and handed it to her through the doorway, heading down the stairs afterwards. " You might not be ready for it yet but when you are use that transponder and I'll come get you." He put his hat on then left her to her thoughts, walking out the door


	9. Not looking back

In the few short days since the visit by Arnold, Dialia had been cooped up in her room. Lisa left her meals outside the door, collecting the empty dish later. During that time she'd been thinking about what she'd been told. It scared her, and she didn't know what she was suppose to do. Her mind kept going back to what Walker repeatedly tried to ask her father. She'd seen pictures of Hoover Dam in old books, the lights of Vegas visible in the background. She wondered if the lights really made the night as bright as day. Sitting on the desk across from her was a open book full of historical landmarks. The current page displayed the Zion canyons and the towering 38 Casino in Vegas. In the background downstairs she could hear her father and Walker start arguing again. She could hear every word they said.

" Colonel Kannon! Please consider it. The NCR barely held onto the dam last time Caesar crossed and it could use all the help it can get. I beg you to reconsider. I can't stay much longer." All while Walker pleaded with him, Eric was reading reports the scouts had delivered. Some of the news was worrying, with some word from the border of The Arizona tribes trying to push into the state. So far the scouting parties had been annihilated by the Apache and Navajo horse riders. At least he could leave that worry to the expert archers. Worrying rumors of Caesar's legion came from the north with the word that the legions were pushing west from Utah. The Blue Knights with their WW2 Era tanks could easily hold the border. What he was worried about was if the western border guards encountered a large force of heavily armed men using pre-war firearms. There were plenty of military caches that hadn't been scavenged yet a hundred miles down the road. Christine ran by, a toy bear swinging in her hands as she ran from room to room. It was times like these when he felt he could let all his worries go for a bit. It reminded him of when Dialia was still young. As Christine ran around Dialia came down the stairs, her sister leaping to embrace her. " Hello Christine, happy to see me ?" Christine responded by climbing on her shoulders, a piggyback ride her favorite thing to do with her sister. " Hey D. What are you doing down here." Dialia set Christine down to see her run off. " I want to talk to you and mom about something. where is she?" A racket rose from the clinic on the other side of the house. Shouting echoed through the building. "Your mother's busy in the clinic right now and whatever you want to talk about will have to wait. The Apache tribe have found that raider camp so I need to meet with them. " Eric quickly pulled on his armor and hat before rushing out the door, several town guards following him down the street. "Well looks like that talk will have to wait for later. I'm gonna go and try to get on his good side." Walker barged out the door, leaving Dialia alone with Christine.

On the outside of town at the top of a hill Dialia carried Christine on her shoulders. The two of the enjoyed the breeze that came through the pass, the sounds of the elk herds carried on the wind. " I love this place Christine. I love the smell of the flowers on the wind, the calls of the deer in the morning. Every day I stop and get one of those sugar covered donuts from Martin's bakery, the hot oil dripping on my hands. But sometimes I feel like I'm nothing but trouble. I can feel the disgusted stares of some of the town's people. Some of them won't even shop at Grandpa's store. When traders come to town they get nervous of they see me not covered up. I easily eat as much as mom and dad combined so I worry their spending too much to feed me. I don't know, what do you think." She hadn't noticed that Christine had fallen asleep. " I guess you aren't thinking about anything right now huh." Dialia turned back toward the town. The smoke stack of the train rising over the hills in the distance.

Lisa was still busy in the clinic when they got back after after lunch time. Dialia took Christine upstairs to their shared room. She set her down on her little mattress, the small arms wrapping around the teddy bear on the pillow. Once Christine was asleep Dialia at her desk writing. It took her a long time for her to finish her carefully worded paper, the sun was setting. Gathering her things she went downstairs where Walker was. " I couldn't convince your dad. He's got too many things happening here to leave. Where are you going?" He followed her into the garage where her bike was. "I'm heading west. I'll go with you until Nevada then we part ways." Walker was dumbfounded, silent as he followed her down the hill. Nothing was said until they boarded the departing train north. " You aren't telling your parents, what about Christine and your Grandpa?" She was silent, watching her home disappear into the distance. "With Christine there, it'll be hard to feed two of us. I don't want to bring them anymore trouble." He tried to talk to her more but she wouldn't listen, only staring back towards her home. 

 

In the night their screams echoed. The fire light danced with the dark, the shadows horrifically changed. Her hands dug into one mans gut to wrap around his spine before pulling his torso from his legs. Her foot fell on another's screaming face, gray brain matter oozing from the shattered skull. The last survivor of the camp of 2 dozen legionaries was a praetorian. He tried to crawl away on mangled legs. When he looked back he saw the 7 foot giant with the fire light to her back, great curving horns that grew from her head ending in sharp tips. Nothing of the face was visible save for a hate filled blue eye and a bright green eye that showed no emotion in its slit pupil. He tried to call to the main camp only a few hundred meters away but all they heard were his screams of agony as his head was slowly and agonizingly pulled from his shoulders. He could feel the muscles in his neck tear, his vertebrae crack and his spinal cord snap. A screeching roar took up the silence as his screams ended. As last, the cause of her pain dead, the giant wondered into the dark. The only evidence of her being there were the two dozen mangled corpses and the gore stained bull flags that hung from the tents.


	10. Chapter 10

She felt the blade digging into her flesh, the ropes holding her to the wooden beam dark with her blood. With each ounce of pain the smoldering rage in her grew. The Legion commander, the one who took such pleasure in torturing her, set the scalpel down on a rusted tray.  
"I can feel it. I'm so close to breaking you. I told you I'd break you and make you my pet, my killing machine. I saw what you did to my men, my useless men and saw you were worth far more then them. Your scales stop bullets, claws rip flesh, and jaws crush bone. Even after you killed half the men sent to catch you, I knew you were worth it. Now lets see just how well you heal."  
She tried to break from her restraints as he brought a scooper to her face. Leather bands held her head still as the man grinned. "Relax, It'll only hurt for a second."  
She felt the sharp edge of the scoop go under her eye, cutting the optic nerve, not a scream but a roar leaving her maw.

Dialia jumped from her seat on the wagon, sweat soaking the hood on her head. The memories wouldn't stop repeating, playing over and over in her head. She thought going home would make them stop, but it didn't. Outside the cloth walls the wagon train was stopping. The train leader called out a rest. "1 hour then we'll move on to the New Mexico border. All traders should be notified that the border guards will check your items. Dialia stepped off the wagon, the old car suspension shooting up without her weight. She could get to the border by nightfall. Another two days to Denver then she could ride the train north back to Whitehall. Everyone watched with relief as the 7ft giant was leaving the group. She could feel their fear the entire time she was with them. They didn't see a kind person, all they saw was a monster. And so did she.

When she came to the border and saw the heavily armed WW2 shermans, the guards marveled at the giant dragging 4 unconscious men. They had tried to rob her only to be ripped apart. The guards let her through once she deposited the bodies. She was passing the command post when she saw him. Her father was there. She took a step toward him before hesitating. She turned, leaving before he saw her. She never saw Eric turn towards her, wondering who the giant in the cloak was.

5 days later, She was on the train that Roland ran, none of the crew recognizing her. The train suddenly stopped, people running around in a panic. Roland himself came into the car. " Everyone calm down. We have raiders on the track ahead. Their attacking the next town." Dialia got up, all eyes turning to her as she exited the car.

The raiders were torn to ribbons, the red hot barrels of her minigun steaming. Dialia had gotten off the train, following the tracks towards Whitefield. She had come upon the raiders who were banging on the town gate, the train station already torn apart. one of them noticed her, charging with foam on his lips. Before he could swing his machete she knocked him down. He screamed as she stepped on his head, skull crushing under the weight. His friends came, most of them without a gun. As they charged, blackened steel emerged from under her cloak, lead and flame spewing forth. Chunks of flesh flew from the raiders bodies as they were mulched. The last survivor crawling away. The carbon blackened barrels submerged back under her cloak as she neared him. "Get away from me you monster!" She took off the eyepatch covering her left eye, letting the bright green bestial eye adjust to the light of the morning sun. He turned back, fear filling his eyes as her two eyes shown in the dark of her hood. His expression reminded her so much of that man who she hated so much. She turned him on his back, bare foot on his sternum. Blood started to stream from his mouth as she slowly added more weight. His ribs cracked then broke, piercing and crushing his organs. His lungs popped, liver split and heart burst. It was only when she was satisfied he was dead she stopped. The towns guards sat on the wall. The shock evident among them.

Lisa had been treating an wounded guard on the wall when the slaughter had commenced. She couldn't watch as the giant crushed the mans ribcage. Now she watched in shock and silence with everyone else as the killer walked to the town gate. The gates opened and the guards kept an eye on her, guns ready. Lisa followed at a distance, going up the hill where the giant entered the clinic. Lisa went in after her. The stranger went upstairs into Christine's room. Grabbing Eric's shotgun from under the bed she peeped through the door to be shocked. The stranger was stripping, with a minigun emerging first to be set on the floor, the short barrels of a sawed off emerging as well. A worn and heavy back pack fell to the ground before the cloak came off. Twisting dark horns emerged from under the ragged cloth. Scars crisscrossed over the body. The dark blue scales covering most of her body were hard as steel. Tears flowed from Lisa's eyes as she saw the eyepatch on her daughters face. "You can come in. I can smell and hear you mom." Lisa walked in to embrace her daughter but nearly fled when the embrace turned painful. Christine came in, talking about what happened outside when she saw Dialia. It was a long quiet moment before everyone embraced.

After Dialia had showered Lisa insisted to give her a medical examination. Her daughter refused until she realized that her mother wouldn't stop pestering her. Lisa noted the increased height and weight. Dialia was now seven foot four and weighed nearly 400 pounds. Starting with her back Lisa noted that the bony scales that were small years earlier had spread and become harder. She was even shocked to find the broken tip of a large knife embedded in one of the larger plates. It hadn't broken through the armor, likely bending before snapping. After removing the shard of steel she continued. The scales covering Dialia's body were hard, but allowed free movement without restricting her. The only places where normal human skin covered was the chest, the insides of the legs and iunder the arms down till the elbow before being bare.. Her face was mostly scale free except for the bottom of the cheeks where scales crept up from the side of the neck. Dialia's horns had tripled in size and doubled in length, the points ending above her eyes and facing forward. Lisa had seen enough gunshot wounds to recognize the scars that were on the soft skinned portions of her body, primarily her arms. It was the scar tissue around Dialia's bestial left eye that made her alarmed. She could tell it was made by a medical instrument. Checking more closely she found that some of the scars were jagged and shallow. Such wounds were purposely caused to be painful and made Lisa's imagination turn to the thought of what caused these. "Dialia, how did you get these." Her voice was soft and soothing but would not coax her daughter out of silence. After a long time Lisa's frustrations came to a point. She had never needed to use a stern voice with her daughter. Until now.

"Dialia. Tell me what happened. Now!"


	11. Legion

" You don't need to know a damn thing." Lisa was caught by surprise as Dialia shoved past her through the clinic into the main room where she barged through the front door. At the sound Christine came downstairs, chasing Dialia out when she saw the door closing. Never had Lisa been snapped at by her oldest. Now she hoped the same thing wouldn't happen to her little 10 year old

Eric watched the Legionary diplomatic party come through the border crossing. They had come to talk to the various tribes in the territory and while he would like to get rid of them they weren't a war party so they didn't pose a threat supposedly. While the Legion claimed that the state was under its control, most of it was free except for the west and north borders. The speaker chosen by Caesar had a party of 12 Legion veterans, all wearing the armor and weaponry of Centurions. He had seen more then a few of them eyeing the borders defensive line made up of old WW2 sherman tanks and machine guns. From where he stood on the defensive ramparts he noticed them heading for the small settlement to the east. From there they would likely ride the train north. It was about time for him to head home so he would keep an eye on them until then. He must have been noticed because he noted one centurion with scarred armor returning his glare. He was probably in his late 40's with a grizzled face, a scar going across his nose. They both sized each other up from a distance, seeing the combat experience the other had. Perhaps out of respect for a fellow soldier the centurion nodded before leading his party away. Eric returned to his given quarters to grab his pack before heading east as well.

Dialia had stormed out of the town gate and into the forest across the valley. Now nearly an hour had passed since she stormed out and she was still going. She wasn't mad, she just gotten upset when her mother had started to press her. She didn't want to remember. The pain, the humiliation, the near plunge to madness. It was the snapping of branches that alerted her to the small mass of her sister behind her. She charged up to her sister and scooped her in her arms. "What are you doing here? It's dangerous out here for someone like you." As if to make her point a gargling howl echoed in the air. Dialia turned to the source of the sound to see a hairless bear, heavily scarred and bigger then any she'd seen before. half of its face was scar tissue and missing its right eye. Dialia ran the opposite way with Christine in her arms, looking for a large tree that could hold their weight. Finding a old cottonwood near a dry creek she pushed Christine up first before climbing herself. The bear was clawing at the base as they climbed higher. It was the snap that alerted her to the dead branch breaking under her weight. She pushed Christine onto a thick branch and when she reached for herself the branch holding her broke. She fell a dozen feet to the ground to land right on top of the bear.

The guard looked out off the wall as the last rays of sun were dying. In the fading light between two crumbling brick buildings was a giant and it was dragging behind it the body of the biggest bear he'd ever seen. Even as she pulled the corpse Dialia felt the stinging of her wounds. The fight had started when she had fallen on the bear. Immediately it attacked, clawing her and bringing about her rage. She had grabbed his leg before it could swipe. Her jaws went for the throat, canines sinking into flesh even as its jaws locked on her arm. Blood spattered her face as its teeth chewed her arm. It slacked at last when her own jaws crushed its windpipe, strangling it to death. She let the corpse fall to the ground before falling back against the tree. Christine climbed back down before rushing to hug her. Dialia took a scrap of her shirt to wipe of Christine's face, tears welling down it.  
"Its alright. I'm not hurt. "  
It took her some time to calm the crying girl. Even longer to get her to hop on her shoulders. With Christine on her back Dialia grabbed the corpse and started to drag it down the hill through the ruins of the old town. The sunlight has faded when they reached the town gate, illuminated by the bright lights on the walls. As the gate was opening Lisa came rushing to them, Christine running into her arms.  
"What happened? Why are you covered with blood?"  
Dialia dragged the corpse to the side of the gate before heading up the hill. " we met the wildlife. That's what happened."

After taking a shower Lisa immediately rushed Dialia to the clinic where she bandaged the ragged bite. Even while she was treated Dialia stuffed food into her mouth. She always got hungry after a fight and especially if she was injured. Lisa droned on about reckless behavior even while following her upstairs. She only stopped when she tucked Christine into bed and kissed both of them goodnight. On the floor Dialia laid with her eyes open. For a long time she lay there until up on the bed she could hear Christine moving. The little girl climbed off the bed onto the floor. Crawling under her blanket Christine snuggled up against Dialia, and for the first time for awhile she slept peacefully through the night. 

It was the next morning around eight when the train pulled into the Whitefield. Eric came off the train carrying his items, the Legionary men stepping off further down the train. As he walked through the opening gate he was greeted by a dozen of the town guards saluting him. An elderly guard who'd served many years came over with news.  
"Welcome back Sheriff. How was the council meeting?" "It was all right. The Blue Guard don't have any troops or tanks to spare right now with all the tribes pushing on their borders from legion territory.."  
Eric's bag was grabbed by another guard who proceeded to carry it up the hill. He followed behind, a wild child leaping on him when he opened the door. Christine refused to let him go until Lisa came over to pull her off. "Hello dear. Welcome home." It was one of those cliche moments where they all welcomed him back. Lisa set Christine down before hugging him herself. "Oh Christine. Go upstairs and get your sister." Eric's was hit with surprise. "She's home? When did she come home?" Christine ran back down the stairs shaking her head. Lisa went into the clinic then the kitchen but came back alone. " I don't know where she went.

In the centuries old hotel where the Legionaries had booked a room they were looking for one of their members. " Where is Marcius. I told him to keep watch on the balcony." Ottarius the commander was asking his men. " Someone check the restroom. He's suppose to be on watch in case anything happens." Already a crowd of people made up of the towns population had gathered at the hotels front. For a second he thought he heard muffled screaming but his attention was taken away to someone knocking on the door.

On the roof Marcius was trying to scream but couldn't. The first thing to be broken was his jaw, then his arms and last were his legs. His assailant was slowly breaking his fingers one by one. Every breath was painful as his ribs had been crushed. " What's coming next is gonna be worse. I've felt it and so will you." Sharp claws started to dig under his eye, turning the orb to mush. He tried to scream but couldn't as sharp fangs dug into his neck, crushing his windpipe. As his lungs burned the last image he saw before his last eye was destroyed was his killers face. Bestial eyes, one green and the other blue, glared at him with hate. Horns grew from the side of the head to end in a sharp point by the face. Dark blue nearly black scales covered her cheeks. Before he could see more his eye was ripped out and he was on the urge of suffocation when her hands grabbed his neck. It was a slight pinching sensation then pulling then tearing. His last thought was realization that he had been decapitated.


	12. The Hunt

It was early the next morning when the sun was first rising that the mutilated body of the Centurion was found. Immediately upon the discovery a town guard was sent to wake Eric who arrived after the Legionaries did. The commander was leaning over the remains when Eric joined him. They went straight to business, the Legionnaire ignoring the faded NCR markings on Erics old ranger armor and he did the same for Ottarius." He's been dead since afternoon yesterday. That's when he went missing." Ottarius reported the details of the disappearance before ordering his men to take the remains away. Eric wrote down as many details as he could before releasing him. He did notice a teenage man spit towards the centurions before walking away. It was when he returned to his house he finally realized how long the whole procedure had taken. Lisa was cooking breakfast while Dialia and Christine were just getting up. Behind him the door opened with the Legionaries bringing the corpse into the clinic for Lisa to examine. Just as fast they arrived they left with only Ottarius staying in the clinic. Lisa came to the door before talking to him quietly. " I'll examine the corpse later. I don't want the girls to see it."  
Eric went in and before long He and Ottarius came out. Both were leaving, on the way out Ottarius saw a person on the stairwell. Not much was visible but the eyes were clear. Hate the likes of which he'd only seen a few times before filled them. But what was behind the hate unnerved him. Bestial eyes with a hungry look.

It was near mid day when Dialia was walking down the hill from her home to the town store. She heard the stone before she saw it, ducking with ease. Looking in the direction the projectile came from, she saw a group of teens emerging from a alley, led by Mary Coulidge with Lucas by her side. "Hello freak! I heard you had come back but I couldn't believe anyone would come back to a place where their hated." Dialia completely ignored her and her gang, continuing on her way. Mary didn't like being ignored and signaled for Luke to make his move. With all his strength he punched her in the back with a loud pop reverberating in the air. He started howling while clutching at his right hand, multiple fingers dislocated or broken. The crowd watched in silence as he tried to punch her in the head only to have her dodge. It was over quickly when she pushed him into the group who caught him. Promptly she resumed her original course down the hill with Mary screaming obscenities at her. 

Carlos had snuck away from the rest of the Legionnaires to smoke in private. Ottarius had commanded strict discipline after the death of Marcius which led to grumbling among the group. Carlos couldn't stand looking at the former NCR dog and couldn't understand why the commander would work with him. Sure they had come to protect Caesar's speaker but he didn't like it. Why would Caesar send out speakers to find new followers when he could just send his armies and make all those who resisted slaves. His mind was distracted until one of the other Legionaries came out the back of the hotel. "The commander wants you on watch while he talks to the sheriff." Carlos crushed out his cigarette with curse under his breath. "Can't believe we have to work with a NCR dog. If I could I'd just kill him." He was admonished by his partner as he wondered in. Carlos was about to follow when he was suddenly jerked off the ground.

In the evening Eric escorted Ottarius back to the clinic for the autopsy. Lisa had already finished by the time they arrived. "Whoever killed him really does not like the legion. His arms and legs were broken premortem then his eyes were cut out. Someone then proceeded to pull his head off while he was still alive, likely a winch. After death he was disemboweled and most of the ribs are cracked or broken." Ottarius gazed on at the body of his subordinate with no emotion on his face. Lisa covered the remains before leaving.  
"The legion isn't well liked out here. Some of the towns people fled when the legion took over their homes and some ended up here. " Eric noticed that Ottarius's fists was clenched so tightly he was bleeding. "I want to find who did this. I will not hold it against your town but I will find who did this and they will suffer."  
Eric was reaching for his shoulder when there was a knock at the door. One of the town guards was wheezing on the other side. "Eric! there's another body." Ottarius whipped his head around, demanding the location. With little hesitation the guard started running with them following behind.

At the killsite over a dozen town guards were keeping the crowd back. The body wasn't nearly as mutilated as the others. The neck was bent at an unnatural angle, the bruising a dark purple. Ottarius close the corpse's eyes, muttering something under his breath.  
"This murder's different then all the other one. There's no mutilation or post mortem injury, not like previous corpse."  
Ottarius looked around, eyeing the crowd and nearby building's.  
"The killer was interrupted and left quick. Their probably watching us now to see how we'll react."  
Eric looked around as well and nearly missed the figure standing on the farthest building with a visible view of the scene. whoever it was sat down, making themselves harder to make out. There was something on their head, a hat or something. It seemed almost pointed. A scary thought came into his head and he hoped it couldn't be true.  
" Alright lets take care of this. I gotta take care of something at home.

Eric caught Dialia as she was going up the stairs. She had walked in before him wearing her usual modified shirt and pants. " Hey Dialia can I ask you something." It was only a slight twitch in her hand but he caught it. She was nervous. "Have you seen anything lately that I should know about?"  
"No. I have heard about those murders but haven't seen anything."  
He really didn't want to ask the question but on the off chance it was true he couldn't allow such actions to go unpunished.  
"This may be a bad thing to ask but did you kill those men?"


	13. End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> last chapter of D's time in the west. Next story she'll be in the eastern states

Arnold Kern was about to knock on the front door to the town clinic when it exploded outward. Pieces of wood flew every where as a man came flying past him. A few seconds later the door frame itself exploded as a barely recognizable figured followed the first. The man who had come through the door was dressed in ornate red cloth and metal armor. He drew a machete from its sheath but before he could attack Dialia knocked him down, roaring. In the few years since he'd last seen her she'd changed a lot. Her beastly side had developed more. Eric came out of the house, tackling his daughters leg and knocking her down.  
"Run, I'll try to slow her down. You need to get help!" Getting up quickly, the other man ran down the hill while Eric used his belt to quickly tie Dialia's feet together. She didn't even consider him as she dug her hand into the soft soil, dragging herself after her prey. Eric noticed Arnold who had been knocked to the ground.  
"I don't give a fuck what your doing here, but HELP ME!"  
Arnold jumped on top of Dialia as well but his added weight did nothing to slow her down.  
"Why is she acting like this? What happened?" He asked  
Eric didn't know what caused his daughter to attack, only what happened prior.

He had just asked her if she had killed the Legionaries when Ottarius came through the door.  
"She's the one?! She killed my men?" Eric could hear a low growling coming from Dialia's throat. He could hear her speaking softly. It grew louder with every second until it filled the room. "LEGION!!" She roared, charging him. Grabbing him by his armor she tossed Ottarius through the front door. She followed suit, not bothering to duck but just barging through the door. 

Eric and Arnold had managed to hold her down long enough for Ottarius to enter the town square but they were quickly losing energy. Pushing herself up she threw the both of them off. In a single leap she was able to jump high enough to grab hold of the ledge of a low building. Pulling herself up she started jumping from roof to roof till she was out of sight. Both Arnold and Eric started running down the hill, trying to reach the town to warn them.  
" How did this happen. This degree of mutation has never happened in any of the other subjects that were stable!" Arnold was struggling to stay up in his advanced age. Eric had no idea of the cause either but it had to do with something that happened to the west and it involved the legion.

Ottarius called for his troops, the remaining 10 centurions pouring out the entrance of the town's hotel with weapons in hand. "Two of you, get Caesar's speaker somewhere safe, the rest are with me, we need someplace open so nothing can sneak up on us." All while he talked Ottarius noticed a crowd of the town's teenagers approach. One girl with an arrogant air about her was leading. "Hey look, it looks like the Caesar's salads are leaving town, they might be scared by our electricity. " It wasn't funny but her gang laughed anyways and he had no patience for it. " Leave now! It's not gonna be safe around us." As he was finishing his statement a noise came from above. A roaring mass dropped down, landing on the shoulders of one of his men, the sound of breaking bones snapping through the air. Ottarius couldn't react fast enough as a legionary tried to attack the mutant with his thermal lance, only for his weapon to be ripped away and shoved back through his chest and armor, the smell of burnt meat filling the air along with the mans screams. The crowd of teenagers quickly ran, scattering like mice. Another legionary charged with a ripper in hand but before he could swing he was grabbed by his head before being slammed into the ground, skull shattering on impact. While the mutant was distracted one legionary swung with his machete which ripped through the beasts clothes. As the shirt fell away to expose a makeshift bra, the multitude of scars became evident, and on the left side of the belly was a scar covered brand of a bull. Although it was only visible due to the flushed skin Ottarius recognized it and now understood why the beast was killing them. Before he could relay an order to retreat the mutant charged him.

Eric had drawn his revolver when he heard the fighting but wasn't prepared to see the carnage. Four of the legionaries were dead on the ground while Ottarius was hanging off Dialias back as she tried to shake him off. The rest of the legionaries were surrounding the speaker, escorting him away from the fight. They needed to think of a way to restrain Dialia quickly before she hurt anyone else. Regular rope would be instantly shredded. Looking past the fight to an disused mechanics shop he thought of the chains that hung on the old hydraulic lifts. Grabbing Arnold by the hand he pulled him past the fight. Ottarius was barely holding on as they ran pass. Dialia noticed them running past and in her berserk state chased after them. With her on their heels both of them dropped to the ground, nearly being trampled as Dialia pushed the rusted garage door up and tangling herself in the chains. Eric shoved the doctor back as D's clawed foot smashed into the where he just was, the chains and lifts groaning under the stress. Ottarius dropped from her back, rolling away. She roared upon seeing him trying to free herself from the tangled chains, rust coming off the old steel. The three men stepped back towards the door out of her reach, the skin on her arms literally being torn as she struggled to get free. "How did she become like this. Not only has her mental condition deteriorated but something caused her body to rapidly change. " Arnold marveled at her, examining her closer now that she wasn't trying to kill him. "I don't know what could have happened while she was gone for two years but it must have been bad." Eric noticed Ottarius was silent, staring hard at one patch of skin on D's body. "What is it?"

The town residents all gathered in front of the garage down the street from the hotel. Many were shocked at Dialia's appearance while the town teenagers jeered at her and called for her to be put down. Ottarius and her men were off to the side while town guards stood near her with loaded weapons. Eric checked the chains one more time before walking before the crowd with Lisa. "I wish it didn't have to come to this and never dreamed it would. Something happened to Dialia while she was gone. Something bad." He turned the crowd over to Lisa who described the scars. The town listened with silence, no one thinking of a word to say except for an old guard. "What happened? Who did it?"  
Ottarius spoke up in response "Charibus" all eyes were on him. "Who" It was Lisa who asked.  
"Charibus, a legion centurion and one of Caesar's favored. He was feared even among the legion. Many of the men under his command asked for reassignment, even begging to be sent to Nevada over being under his command. That's because he tortured many of them to death for his own amusement. He was the legion's most infamous torturer." The crowd was silent, listening with intent as Ottarius went on. "I found his personal bull brand on Dialia. Most of her scars are probably his handiwork but that was what made him so terrifying. He didn't torture his victims physically but also mentally."  
After Ottarius finished Eric was the one who asked. "You say he was. Does that mean he's dead?" Ottarius nodded in confirmation. "Met him once, never liked him. What was left of him was found in his camp with the scattered remains of his guard. I heard it was like a pack of wild beasts attacked but I'm sure it was the girl who did it now that I've seen her. The mayor stepped forward to address the crowd. "I think we should all discuss what we've heard. It will be crucial in Dialia's trial.' At his word the crowd quickly separated, leaving only the guards, Eric and Lisa to watch Dialia.

By the time night fell Dialia had returned to her right state of mind, saying nothing even as everyone left. She hung limply from the chains, the guards outside the door paying no attention. From behind her she heard something moving, seeing a small figure out the corner of her eye. Christine came around to her front, holding a teddy bear in her hands. Climbing up Dialia's chest, she unwrapped the chains from her arms. Neither of the guards payed attention as they chatted. With her arms free Dialia looked at Christine who was dragging a heavy bag behind her. Inside were her weapons and a note. It was grandpa, telling her to flee the town as Mary had managed to convince some of the towns people she was too dangerous. Many thought she would go berserk again and didn't want to risk their lives. Besides the note in the bag there was also a weeks worth of food and ammo. As quietly as possible she put everything on before sneaking out the backdoor. Turning Christine towards the house she gave her a little shove, encouraging her to go home. As her sister left Dialia gave one last wave before sneaking to the town gate. There she met her grandfather. " I wish you weren't leaving again so soon. It was nice to have you back." Before he said anything else she hugged him, tears leaving her eyes. "It's alright D, its not your fault all that stuff happened to you." For a long minute they stayed like that before he let her go, pushing her out the gate. "Get going now, we'll be fine without ya. Go find your own happiness." Slowly she started walking, looking back again and again to see him waving in the gates light. Finally alone in the dark she looked back one more time, tears dripping down her face. She knew she could never go back now go the only way was forward. She turned to the east, too many bad memories in the best. Now she had a purpose, to follow her grandfathers advice and find her happiness. 

The town was in uproar by dawn, everyone fearful that Dialia had escaped. The mayor had sent Eric and the guards to find her but they lost the trail quickly. Now Eric was watching Mary throw a fit outside her house. He feared for the day she would become mayor, a sure thing because of her popularity. Lisa and Christine were back home eating breakfast and now her father was walking up to him. He knew he had helped her but neither had the evidence or will to convict him.Both watched quietly as the town went about business as usual with more caution. Eric noticed the legionaries walking through the town gate while Ottarius joined them. " we're heading back to legion territory. Not enough guards to continue our delegation and the speaker himself is shook up." He looked Eric in the eye, respect flowing between them. "The legion just keeps making enemies. It came to bite us in the ass here, and it'll probably bite us in the ass again before we get home." Eric pondered what that meant as the veteran legionary left. As he walked up the hill to the house he wondered what Dialia was doing......and wished her luck in her travels.

 

Ahhhhh finally done guys. If this chapter seems a little rushed, it was. But Dialias travels in the west are finally over and soon she'll be in the eastern states. hope you guys will follow her next adventures and hope u all had good holidays. See ya.


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